Nukuoro English

noun one’s first spouse

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 6

noun evening

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun fire

Speaker: Maynard Henry

noun iron (a piece of)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 9

noun the barely formed gelatinous layer inside the immature coconut

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 10

noun body

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 13

noun toenail

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 13

fingernail

Speaker: Maynard Henry

noun hanging basket made from coconut palm

Example: Photo by Emily Drummond, 06/10/15

noun cage; fence

Speaker: Mina Lekka

verb (intransitive) carve

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun kind of, sort of, variety of

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 34

verb pull

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun dollar bill

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun butterfly fish

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 57

very big giant

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 59

blood

Speaker: Maynard Henry

verb move from place to place; crawl

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

stilts; walk on stilts

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 64

verb allow one’s beard to grow

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 66

noun apodous sea cucumber

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 70

an open field having no trees

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 71

noun apodous sea cucumber

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 70

noun taro plant

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 69

verb laugh

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun itch

noun itch

Speaker: Mina Lekka

a shrugging movement of the shoulders

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 140

to treat as an eldest child

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 142

cause to have skin disease

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 143

cringe to deceive one’s opponent into thinking one is afraid (when one is not).

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 175

study, attempt to memorize

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 184

low wages, low-priced

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 199

urinate (piss)

an avoidance relationship between kin

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 230

adjective muscular

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

verb wash someone

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun toilet

Source: Johnny Rudolph

noun bathroom, toilet

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun chest (body part)

atoll (literally, sand island)

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun hive, nest

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun second stage of a green coconut

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun eyebrow

the flower of the coconut tree

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 247

rib

Speaker: Maynard Henry

adjective plenty; a lot, many

Speaker: Ruth Rudolph

overripe coconut apple

Speaker: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 257

noun pants

Speaker: Ruth Rudolph

childbirth

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 259

noun the making of sounds repeatedly; talking

Speaker: Ruth Rudolph

noun little finger

Speaker: Ruth Rudolph

calmness, tranquility, freedom from worries

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 263

adjective angry

Source: Mina Lekka

to repeatedly use a breadfruit picker; pull (a trigger)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 266

verb die

Speaker: Mina Lekka

remain stationary in the air (like a bird or a helicopter)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 270

noun nipple

Speaker: Mina Lekka

verb identify tentatively; to think that one recognizes but not be sure

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 277

adjective very old (person); elder

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

adjective cold

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

adjective becoming more and more malali

Speaker: Mina Lekka

adjective happy

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun crack (of a whip)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 284

adjective balding

Speaker: Mina Lekka

adjective delicious (general)

Speaker: Mina Lekka

adjective the sound of something being chewed

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 288

noun animal (doesn’t include people)

noun bird

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

adjective broken up (into many pieces or groupings)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 288

more and more; diminshing rainfall

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 288

spacious

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 290

adjective abraded in several places cf. masole

Speaker: Mina Lekka

a cold underwater current

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 295

noun stage between a young green coconut and a mature brown coconut

Example: Photo by Emily Drummond, 06/16/15

Speaker: Mina Lekka

a name children tease each other with

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 299

damselfish

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 300

a wave of sufficient force to wash over normally dry land; tidal wave

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 307

adjective long since finished, done or gone; long since, a long time ago

Speaker: Mina Lekka

verb to put an infant to sleep by singing a lullaby

Speaker: Mina Lekka

adjective Yes! Yes!

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 317

verb to wander around continually (from past time to the present)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 319

verb to wander around continually (doing so at present and likely to be doing so in the future)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 319

waddle

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 325

adjective slippery

Speaker: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 323

adjective stopped, ended

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 329

verb having white hair

Speaker: Mina Lekka

orphaned

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

sand

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 335

wrasse (fish)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 337

defecate (children’s language)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 337

noun shoe

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun maternal uncle

industrious person

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 73

noun ball woven from coconut palm, used for sport

Example: Photo by Emily Drummond, 06/10/15

type of prepared food made from taro and coconut cream

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 339

adjective small (for a vast plural noun; used with dengaa)

adjective. evil, unscrupulous, immoral

Speaker: Mina Lekka

verb to clear land (or a path, etc.) of weeds and underbrush

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun female genital area