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ndegwa. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
ndegwa, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
ndegwa in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Kikuyu
Etymology
Hinde (1904) records ndēgua as an equivalent of English bull in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ⁿdɛ̀(ː)ɣwàꜜ/, /ⁿdɛ̀(ː)ɣoàꜜ/
- Barlow (1960) treats this e as short, while Benson (1964) as long.
- As for Tonal Class, Armstrong (1940) classifies this term into moondo class which includes mũndũ, huko, igego, igoti, inooro, irigũ, irũa, kĩbaata, kĩmũrĩ, kũgũrũ, mũciĩ, mũgeni, mũri, mwaki (“fire”), ndaka, ndigiri, njagathi, njogu, Mũrĩmi (“man's name”), etc.[2] Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 1 with a disyllabic stem, together with ndaka, and so on.
- (Limuru) As for Tonal Class, as ndeegũa, Yukawa (1981) classifies this term into a group including cindano, huko, iburi, igego, igoti, ini (pl. mani), inooro, irigũ, irũa, iturubarĩ (pl. maturubarĩ), kĩbaata, kĩmũrĩ, kũgũrũ, mũciĩ, mũgeni, mũgũrũki, mũmbirarũ, mũndũ, mũri, mũthuuri, mwaki (“fire”), mwario (“way of speaking”), mbogoro, nda, ndaka, ndigiri, ngo, njagathi, njogu, nyondo (“breast(s)”), and so on.[3]
Noun
ndegwa class 9/10 (plural ndegwa)
- bull, ox[4]
- Synonym: ndume
- Hypernym: ng'ombe
Derived terms
(Proverbs)
References
- “ndegwa” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary. Oxford: Clarendon Press.