ᓂᐢᑌᐢ
nistes
The Cree word for brother is ᓂᐢᑌᐢ (nistes).
ᓂᐢᑌᐢ is used to refer to a male sibling.
Meaning: male sibling (noun)
How do you pronounce it?
nistes
Did you know?
- The word ᓂᐢᑌᐢ belongs to a language family where pronouns and nouns are often 'animacy-based' rather than 'gender-based', categorizing the world into animate and inanimate.
- The concept of 'brother' in Cree culture often encompasses cousins, as the distinction between siblings and first cousins is less rigid than in English.
- Because Cree is an agglutinative language, a single word related to ᓂᐢᑌᐢ can be expanded with suffixes to mean 'my little brother' or 'my older brother' without adding extra words.
Example conversation
Two people are looking at an old photograph.
- Aᒫᐤᐤᐤ ᓂᐢᑌᐢ?mâwâw nistês?Is that your brother?
- Bᐁ, ᓂᐢᑌᐢ ᒫᐤᐤᐤ.ê, nistês mâwâw.Yes, that is my brother.
- Aᓂᐘᐤᑕᐤ ᓂᐢᑌᐢ ᒫᐤᐤᐤ?niwûtâw nistês mâwâw?Do you have another brother?
- Bᐁ, ᒫᒫᐤᑕᐤ ᓂᐢᑌᐢ.ê, mâmâwtâw nistês.Yes, my brother is here.
