How to Say "Ugly" in Cherokee

ᎤᏁᎩᎸᏗ

unegilvdi

The English word "ugly" is translated into Cherokee as ᎤᏁᎩᎸᏗ (unegilvdi).

ᎤᏁᎩᎸᏗ is an adjective used to describe something that is displeasing to the eye or not aesthetically pleasing.

Meaning: displeasing to the eye, not aesthetically pleasing (adj)

How do you pronounce it?

unegilvdi

In some Cherokee contexts, describing an action as 'ugly' is a way to describe a social transgression or a bad habit rather than a physical appearance.
The Cherokee syllabary used to write ᎤᏁᎩᎸᏗ was invented by Sequoyah, who was not literate in English when he created the system.
Because Cherokee is polysynthetic, a speaker can add a single prefix to ᎤᏁᎩᎸᏗ to specify exactly who thinks the object is 'ugly'.

Example sentences for Cherokee are not verified yet.

Two people are looking at a piece of art.

A

ᎤᏁᎩᎸᏗ 🖼️, ᎥᏝ ᏓᏓᏅᎩ Ꮭ ᎪᎢ.
unegilvdi, vtla dadanvgi tla goi
It is ugly, it doesn't look good.
B

Ꮭ ᎤᏁᎩᎸᏗ Ꮭ ᎪᎢ.
tla unegilvdi tla goi
It is not ugly.
A

ᎪᏪᎵ ᎤᏁᎩᎸᏗ ᎢᎩ.
goweli unegilvdi igi
That drawing is ugly.
B

ᎠᏓᏓᏅᎩ ᎢᎩ ᏥᏓᏓᏅᎩ.
adadanvgi igi tsidadanvgi
I think that one is beautiful.