Nukuoro English

dawn (first light)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973, Speaker: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 5

adjective disseminate information

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adjective allowed to, permissible

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

everything, everybody; each and every

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb love intensely

noun mollusk sp., Cerithiidae

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973, Speaker: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 13

verb a type of ocean current far from land in which drifting objects collect

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adjective weak

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

adjective master navigator (having also the ability to forecast the weather)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun the short fibers of the mature coconut husk

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973, Speaker: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 28

adjective ugly-looking

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb say

Speaker: Mina Lekka

tomorrow

Speaker: Mina Lekka

uncomfortable (esp. socially)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

never mind

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

fearless (socially); inconsiderate

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb good at catching tuna

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

that is exactly right

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

that seems to be it; that could be it

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

upward current

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun secretion of the genetalia (male or female); the milky sap on some pandanus plugs

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973, Speaker: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 59

noun spinystarfish

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

chase away (in a certain direction)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

to be exceedingly unsuccessful with members of the opposite sex

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

equal in status

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

be tired of eating a particular kind of food

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb eat messily (getting food on one’s face); make a mess (esp. involving liquid or organic material)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

native food (not imported)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973, Speaker: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 81

eat as though competing against othereaters in a test of manliness(e.g., to eat fish with the scales and all)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun mollusksp.: thais luteostoma

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

the one next younger still

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adjective struggle

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun a by-product of the tumeric-making process

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun outriggerboom

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb see

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

pronoun you (dual)

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

verb set on fire

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

verb arrange things in a row or line

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb to mention or expose something just enough so that the remainder is obvious

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun way of staying up until daybreak

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb know each other

Speaker: Johnny Rudolph

verb praise (god only)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb to put a grass skirt on someone else

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb to skip a stone across the water

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adjective treat as women

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adjective converse (conversation)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun fishsp. : damselfish

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

carry a basket, etc., on one’s hip

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

promiscuous (especially if indiscreetor known to have sexual relations with one’s own relatives)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb use without permission

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun garland of singano

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adjective smart, intelligent, clever

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adjective to sail so as to fill one’s sails with wind (sailing crosswind)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

movement of a turtle (when feeding orsubmerging)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adjective the weight (on a balance) used as a standard measurement

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun Indian mulberry, cheese fruit; used to treat diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart problems

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

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun a fleet of canoes

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

to paint one’s body with tumeric

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

to tear from limb to limb

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adjective tasty (especially of taro)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

a quick-witted person (who realizes his goals fast)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun the wood next to the core of a tree

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb calculate (do arithmetic),figure out

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adjective look (funny)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun a dead coconut leaf torn by the wind

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb able to remain afloat with a load

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb to grasp a fish by inserting one’s fingers in both gills

noun ash(es)

Speaker: Mina Lekka

adjective able to be hooked

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

ambitious for a superior position

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb open (intransitive, pl.)

Example: Denga abaaba gu maahuge. (The doors are open.)

noun prow of a canoe

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adjective very madolidoli

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adjective producing hard crumbs when eaten orbroken

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun top (toy)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun a pottery bottle or jar

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun plantsp.: beachnaupakashrub(scaevola taccada (gaertn.) roxb.)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

bitter; sour; unlucky

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973, Speaker: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 294

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

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973, Speaker: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 297

airplane

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973, Speaker: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 298

noun fishsp.: boxfish (dark blue)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

truth

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

decrease

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973, Speaker: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 310

squid

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973, Speaker: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 312

verb be nguu

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb wind around (of a rope, etc.)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

to work on a craft item (e.g., a canoe) with a model in mind of the finished product which is different from that of the person who began the work

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun a watery area extending into a land area (e.g., a bay)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun a share of food (esp. for children)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

verb scrape (something), plane (something), scrape off (with an object), peel (with a knife toward one)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adjective blow steadily (of wind)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adjective run backwards, move backwards fast

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

adept at

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

a wash of waves at the prow of a canoe, when it is sailing fast

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun trial or formal inquiry

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973

noun t-shirt

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun friend

Speaker: Kurt Erwin

thin and straight (of a person); having flat buttocks (considered ugly)

Contributor: Vern & Soulik 1973, Speaker: Vern & Soulik 1973, p. 331

verb wash hair

Speaker: Mina Lekka

noun son-in-law

Speaker: Kurt Erwin