Nukuoro English

noun European

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 5

noun one’s first spouse

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 6

noun having lots of roots

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 7

good evening

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

verb fish, hunt (during the day)

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun drizzle

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 11

noun rain

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 19

verb pull

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun priest

Speaker: Kurt Erwin

fan

adjective unstable; rocking, as a boat

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

grass skirt

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun butterfly fish

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 57

noun blood

Speaker: Mina Lekka

pronoun your (plural; for singular noun)

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

verb allow one’s beard to grow

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 66

noun tool used to soften the pandanus leaf

Example: Photo by Emily Drummond, 06/11/15

Speaker: Mina Lekka

hide and seek (game)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 71

a diving plaform made from a tree stuck in a coral head

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 69

noun butt

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun baby

Speaker: Kurt Erwin

bosom/breast

Speaker: Maynard Henry

shore

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 79

verb have itch

bird species

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 83

adjective dirty

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

horizon

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 90

a game played by children

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 91

chin

Speaker: Kurt Erwin

a style of construction (consistently followed)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 136

verb cause to have lice (by transfer)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 145

verb attract rain (by making certain noises)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 168

verb cause to have pimples

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 174

verb make many thousands

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 181

urinate (piss)

an avoidance relationship between kin

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 230

to cause an infant to feed at the breast

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 225

verb wash someone

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun chest (body part)

atoll.

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 350

noun nest

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

rust

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 243

noun second stage of a green coconut

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun first stage of a green coconut; youngest coconut

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun skirt; sewn skirt

Speaker: Ruth Rudolph

adjective mad at, angry

Speaker: Mina Lekka

thumb

Speaker: Maynard Henry

adjective tall; long

pronoun our (plural, inclusive; for dual, alienable noun)

Speaker: Ruth Rudolph

to walk with one’s shoulders unnaturally thrown back

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 269

adjective cowardly (concerning others or supernaturals)

Speaker: Mina Lekka

adjective very old (persons), mature, full-grown; parent, elder (senior relative)

Speaker: Mina Lekka

die in agony (owing to having led a bad life)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 279

adjective beautiful

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

noun small bits of things (e.g. sawdust)

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun a careless diver (who is frequently almost drowned)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 284

lizard fish

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 284

adjective balding

Speaker: Mina Lekka

verb becoming more and more calm (of weather)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 284

noun animal (doesn’t include people)

mantis shrimp

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 287

starfish

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 288

noun burned (food)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 290

verb go or do by oneself; a one-man canoe

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 290

noun fan

Example: Photo by Emily Drummond, 06/11/15

Speaker: Mina Lekka

the way in which a current moves about

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 293

verb to sift; rub between fingers

noun muscle

verb to take up slack in a line with hitches in order to maintain tension on something being hauled

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 297

noun paddling canoe

airplane

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 298

boxfish (yellow)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 298

pagan gods, idols

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 308

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

verb to be continually walked upon

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 319

echo

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 323

verb walk

Speaker: Mina Lekka

say bad things about one to one’s face

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 327

striped (with thin lines)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 330

adjective alone, only, by oneself; each

Speaker: Mina Lekka

orphaned

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

not homogenous or smooth (as lumpy dough, or the grated surface of taro)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 331

verb bleed

completely wet all over

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 334

noun maternal aunt

Speaker: Kurt Erwin

noun maternal uncle

infant

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 72

noun mother (formal)

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun maternal grandmother

noun maternal grandmother

Speaker: Kurt Erwin

vein, tendon, nerve, plastic filament

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 338

noun capillary

verb like (someone or something), feel affection for

Speaker: Mina Lekka

nurse (at the breast)

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 343

a dirty song

Source: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 347

adjective. evil, unscrupulous, immoral

Speaker: Mina Lekka

verb to put an infant to sleep by singing a lullaby

Speaker: Mina Lekka