Freelang Cherokee (Aniyawiya)-English dictionary

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Freelang is very proud to contribute to the diffusion of Native American languages. Thanks to authors like Guy T. Gambill, Charles Lippert, Weshki-ayaad, Michiko Arima, Renato B. Figueiredo and Shawn Buchanan Greene, 10 free dictionaries can be downloaded or browsed online on Freelang, including Choctaw, Mohawk, Cheyenne, Maliseet, Naskapi, Ojibwe, Haida, Gwich'in and now Cherokee.

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When Europeans first landed in North America, they found a people living in the mountainous regions of what are now eastern Tennessee, northwest Georgia and the western Carolinas that they called "Cherokee." The name "Cherokee" came from the Chakchiuma (Choctaw) phrase meaning, "cave people" and is still used today by non-native people, as well as the native people in the form of "Tsalagi." Originally, their name was Aniyáwiya, technically "Clan of the People," which also referred to their native language. Five-hundred years later in modern America, the Aniyáwiya language is still spoken by approximately 10,000 people in the Cherokee Nation, located in the 14 county area of Dalikuah (Tahlequah), Oklahoma, as well as spoken in the homelands of the Eastern Band of Cherokee in western North Carolina and by others who have relocated to other areas of the world.

Features of this dictionary

Download our free dictionary (for Windows or Android) and browse both the Cherokee-English and the English-Cherokee lists. Look up a word, add or modify an entry, and learn words at your own rhythm from a personal learning list. Click here to learn more about the features or scroll down to download the program. An online version is also available, so you can browse the dictionary without downloading it.

Features of this dictionary

Download our free dictionary for Android! Browse the wordlists, look up words and practice your vocabulary at your own rhythm. An online version is also available, so you can browse the dictionary without downloading it.

Word list information

This dictionary was made by Shawn Buchanan Greene.

List status: © Shawn Buchanan Greene

Cherokee > English: 5,171 words
English > Cherokee: 6,224 words

Last update: March 21, 2014
First upload: September 14, 2008

Download

1. Read and accept the terms of our copyright notice

2. Click here to download the program (2.21 mb)

3. Click here to download the Cherokee (Aniyawiya) word list (560.55 kb)

4. Double click on each file and install in suggested folder.

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Pronunciation guide

a as in the a in father
i as in the e in feet
u as in the u in lute
e as in the a in gate
o as in the o in mow

g,k,s,d,t,n,h,m,y,l,w as in English

Vowels with accents are nasalized.
Any two consonants in immediate succession are glottal pauses.
a dash is an elongated vowel

dl and tl as in waddle or tattle
dz and ts may sometimes be pronounced as English diphthong ch or j

Diphthongs:

When two A syllables appear in succession, immediate or not, they are pronounced nasally.
When the syllables a and i appear in immediate succession they are pronounced as I in tie.
When gu and any vowel a,i,u,e,o appear in immedate succesion, they are pronounced as English gwa, gwi, gwu, gwe, gwo.
When ku and any vowel a,i,u,e,o appear in immedate succesion, they are pronounced as English kwa, kwi, kwu, kwe, kwo.