ᏯᎾᏏ
yanasi
The Cherokee word for buffalo is ᏯᎾᏏ (yanasi).
ᏯᎾᏏ is a noun used to refer to a bovid of the Bubalina subtribe.
Meaning: bovid of the Bubalina subtribe (noun)
How do you pronounce it?
yanasi
Did you know?
- The syllabary used to write ᏯᎾᏏ was invented by Sequoyah, who was not literate in English when he created the system.
- Because the Cherokee language is polysynthetic, the root for ᏯᎾᏏ can be modified with prefixes and suffixes to change the meaning to 'buffalo hunter' or 'buffalo hide' without using separate words.
- The word ᏯᎾᏏ belongs to a language family where nouns are often categorized by their animacy, and the buffalo is treated as a highly animate being with its own will.
Examples in context
- ᏯᎾᏏ ᎤᏍᏓ.ya·na·si u·s·da.The buffalo is big.
Example conversation
Two people are looking at a picture of animals.
- AᏯᎾᏏ ᏗᏓᏓᏅᏓᏅᎢ?yanasi didadanvdanvti?Are those buffalo?
- BᎭᏓ, ᏯᎾᏏ ᏓᏓᏅᏓᏅᎢ.hada, yanasi dadanvdanvti.Yes, those are buffalo.
- AᏯᎾᏏ ᎦᏚᎢ ᎦᏓᎢ.yanasi gadu-i gada-i.The buffalo is big.
- BᎤᏓᏓᏅᏓᏅᎢ.udanvdanvti.They are very big.
