This is a searchable wordlist. In the top right-hand corner you will see a search box. Try typing in an English word to find its meaning in Nukunu, for example ‘ snake’.
There are soundfiles available for every word to help with your pronunciation.
These words come from the Nukunu Dictionary, published by Luise Hercus in 1992.
waalha
bird: plains turkey
Waarlu-mukunha
person belonging to the Kangaroo-rat matrilineal clan
-wakanha
lacking: privative suffix
waltu
fish-trap, built with bushes and mangrove stakes
wangiya
birth-order name: sixth child, male
Wangkari
name of Melrose (waterhole)
wangkinyanika
throat, gullet
wangku
snake: tiger snake
wanguta
birth-order name: sixth child, female
mityi wanhanga?
what is your name?
wantatya
to stop, to leave off
wantyapi
spirit of the dead
wanyi-itna kawinga
swimming in the water
wapma
snake: large carpetsnake
Wapma-mukunha
a person belonging to the Snake matrilineal clan
Warkalitya
name of Mt Remarkable
Warraty'ipma
name of site near the border of Nukunu country
warrika
birth-order name: second child, female
warriya
birth-order name: second child, male
wartli-pampu
wood fork, used in making a humpy
watlu-kupa
bird: crested pigeon
watnyi thuṛa
little people, mythical people that live in the hills
Wilyaṛu
name of the final stage of initiation involving cicatrisation
winta
bird: owl, the barn owl
wipma
history time, dreamtime
Wira-paṛi
name of Wirrabara Creek
wiralya
goanna: tree-goanna
wiṛi
shoulder blade, wing
wirltu
eaglehawk, also the name of Devil's Peak
Wirltu-mukunha
person belonging to the Eaglehawk matrilineal clan
wirnta
spear, fighting spear
Witalu
name of Black Hill
wititya
to strike with something, to shoot
yakarla paarla
girl, little girl
yaku
gum from sandalwood tree
yapatya
to blow a fire, to breathe on something
yarinda
birth-order: seventh child, girl
yariya
birth-order name: seventh child, male
yarta-purlpa
dusty, dirty
yartnayartna-malka
circatrisation from the Wilyaṛu ceremony
Yatpara
name given at initiation to an uncle of Gilbert Bramfield, who was the senior Nukunu man of his generation
yuku
canoe, large bark dish
yurtu
piece, piece of wood
