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How to use the dictionary

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Search term(s):
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Enter one or more (space separated) search terms in the "Search term(s)" field and click the "Search" button.
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Results

Direct matches
these pron.
cl. 2, 2blaba
cl. 4le
cl. 6la
cl. 8, 10lezi
cl. 15, 17lokhu

six n.
isithupha

six adj.
[rel.]-yisithupha
~ times[i.e. ka-six]kasithupha; ka-6

little adj.
[adj.]-ncane

little adv.
a ~kancane

ox/oxen n.
inkabi
young ~ijongosi

Compounds and phrases (verbatim)
these six little oxen
lezi zinkabi ezincane eziyisithupha
la majongosi amancane ayisithupha

The result set contains one paragraph for each dictionary entry (keyword) that matches your query. If the same keyword appears as different parts of speech, every part of speech will be listed separately.

Each paragraph begins with the keyword followed by its part of speech. Zulu entries additionally show the noun classes, the stem in parantheses and the (optional) phonetic transcriptions.

Stems are denoted by a leading dash (-). Nouns appear as "singular/plural" if both forms exist, otherwise only one form will be shown. The English plural is only shown if it is irregular. For Zulu verbs the verb stem is given.

English adjectives may translate to Zulu adjectives (very few), relatives or verbs each of which have their own sets of concords. Adjectives are marked "[adj.]" after the translation, relatives are marked "[rel.]" and verbs are marked "[v.]".

Search results are divided into two sections:

Direct matches
These are search terms that exist in the dictionary as you typed them. Additionally, the dictionary engine will try to stip off prefixes and suffixes to account for derived words.
Compounds and phrases
If you lookup a compound word or phrase like "big dog", "inja enkulu" or "asimbonanga", the dictionary engine will try to translate it. Note that these are literal translations that might be unsensical. It is up to you to choose a suitable translation.


The tilde (~)

The tilde character (~) is used to save space. It represents the preceding keyword. For example under "rich" you will find "[~ person] isicebi" which means that a "rich person" is called an "isicebi" in Zulu.

Abbreviations

~
the preceding keyword
+
followed by
æ
a-allergic verb (preceding 'a' becomes 'e')
abbr.
abbreviation
a.c.
adjective concord
adj.
adjective
adv.
adverb
b.n.p.
basic noun prefix
cl.
noun class
comp.
comparative
conc.
concord
dem.
demonstrative
enum.
enumerative
indic.
indicative mood
inf.
infinitive
interj.
interjection
interr.
interrogative
irr.
irregular
loc.
locative
n.
noun
o.c., OC
object concord
o.s.
oneself
p.c.
possessive concord
part.
participial mood
perf.
perfect tense
pl.
plural
poss.
possessive
pr.c.
pronomial concord
pron.
pronoun
prp.
preposition
q.c.
quantitative concord
quant.
quantitative
rel.
relative (Zulu adjective type)
r.c.
relative concord
s.c., SC
subject concord
sg.
singular
sjnc.
subjunctive mood
sup.
superlative
s.o.
someone
s.th.
something
usu.
usually
v.
verb
v/aux.
auxiliary verb
v/i.
intransitive verb
v/pass.
passive verb
v/stat.
stative verb
v/t.
transitive verb
w/
with
w/o
without