ᏩᏯ
waya
The Cherokee word for wolf is ᏩᏯ (waya).
ᏩᏯ is used to refer to the animal known as a wolf.
Meaning: animal (noun)
How do you pronounce it?
waya
Did you know?
- The characters used to write ᏩᏯ were invented by a man named Sequoyah, who was not literate in English when he created the system.
- In Cherokee folklore, the ᏩᏯ is often associated with the 'Wolf Clan', one of the traditional social divisions of the people.
- The structure of Cherokee is polysynthetic, meaning that while ᏩᏯ is the noun for 'wolf', a single word can be built from it to describe a wolf performing a specific action, like 'the wolf is running'.
Example sentences for Cherokee are not verified yet.
Example conversation
Two people are walking in the woods and see an animal.
- AᏩᏯ ᎪᎯᏓ!waya gohida!There is a wolf!
- BᎪᎯᏓ ᏩᏯ?gohida waya?Is there a wolf?
- AᎯᎠ ᏩᏯ ᏓᏓᏍᏓᏅᏓᎩᏍᏓ.hida waya dadasnandagisda.This wolf is howling.
- BᏓᏓᏓᏓ ᎢᏓᏓᏓ.dadada idada.Let's run away.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “wolf” translations and entries ᏩᏯ, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
