ᎠᎹ
ama/àmã́/
The Cherokee word for water is ᎠᎹ (ama).
ᎠᎹ refers to the inorganic compound H₂O.
Meaning: inorganic compound H₂O (noun)
How do you pronounce it?
The romanization is ama. The IPA is /àmã́/.
Did you know?
- Because Cherokee is a polysynthetic language, the concept of 'water' can be embedded directly into a verb. You can say 'I am watering' as a single complex word rather than using a separate noun and verb.
- The written form ᎠᎹ uses a syllabary invented by Sequoyah in the 1820s. Unlike an alphabet, each character represents a whole syllable rather than a single letter.
- In Cherokee culture, water is often personified in traditional stories, making the concept of ᎠᎹ more than just a chemical substance in oral histories.
Examples in context
- ᎦᏄᎪᎬ ᎣᏥᏁᎩᏍᎪ ᎠᎹ ᎣᎦᏗᏔᏍᏗ.We get our drinking water from a spring.This sentence is useful for seeing how to describe where one gets drinking water using ᎠᎹ.
Example conversation
Two people are talking in the kitchen.
- AᎠᎹ ᎢᏓᎩᎭ.ama idagiha.Let's drink some water.
- BᎥᎥ, ᎢᏓᎩᎭ.v-v, idagiha.Yes, let's drink.
- AᎠᎹ ᎦᏓᏓᏍᏗ?ama gadadasdi?Where is the water?
- BᎠᎹ ᎤᏓᏓᏓᏍᏗ ᏗᏓᏓᏍᏗ.ama udadasdi didadasdi.The water is over there.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “water” translations and entries ᎠᎹ, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Example sentences: Wiktionary CC BY-SA 4.0.
