ᐊᅪᓯᐢ
awasis
The Cree word for baby is ᐊᅪᓯᐢ (awasis).
ᐊᅪᓯᐢ refers to a very young human being.
Meaning: very young human being (noun)
How do you pronounce it?
awasis
Did you know?
- The Cree syllabary used to write ᐊᅪᓯᐢ is a phonetic system where a single character represents a consonant and a vowel combined. This is a fundamental departure from the way the English alphabet builds words through individual letters.
- Cree is an animacy-based language, and ᐊᅪᓯᐢ is classified as an animate noun, which changes how verbs and adjectives are used when describing the baby.
- Because Cree is polysynthetic, a single word can be built around ᐊᅪᓯᐢ to describe a specific action, such as 'the baby is crying', without needing separate words for 'is' or 'the'.
Example conversation
Two friends are looking at a new baby.
- Aᓂᐧᐣᐣ ᐊᅪᓯᐢ ᒫᑲᐣᐣᐣ.ninn awasis makaninn.Is the baby eating?
- Bᐪᐣ, ᐊᅪᓯᐢ ᓂᐘᐯᐣᐣ.en, awasis nitewninn.No, the baby is sleeping.
- Aᒥᐣᐣ ᐊᅪᓯᐢ ᒫᑕᐣᐣᐣ?minn awasis matanninn?Is the baby crying?
- Bᐪᐣ, ᒫᑲᐣᐣᐣ.en, makaninn.No, he is quiet.
