imbwá
The Shona word for dog is imbwá.
The term refers to the animal known as a dog.
Meaning: animal (noun)
How does it change in a sentence?
The word imbwá belongs to noun class 9/10, a category often used for various animals and objects in Shona.
Did you know?
- Shona folklore sometimes attributes supernatural abilities to the imbwá, such as the power to sense the presence of ancestral spirits before humans can.
- If you are talking about multiple dogs, the word changes from imbwá to imbwá because they belong to a noun class where the singular and plural forms often look identical.
- Shona uses the animal word imbwá in compound terms to describe other things that resemble dogs, such as certain types of plants or tools with a dog-like shape.
Examples in context
- Imbwá iri yakasviba.This dog is black.
- Ndine imbwá imwe chete.I have only one dog.
Example conversation
Tendai and Tatenda see a pet in the yard.
- TendaiImbwá iyi yakachena.This dog is white.
- TatendaHondo hwayo ndivana vangu.It belongs to my cousins.
- TendaiImbwá iyi inoda kudyidza.This dog wants to eat.
- TatendaNdichiipe chikafu iye.I will give it food.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “dog” translations, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
