Shona Language - ZimbOriginal

An ideophone is a word that evokes an idea in sound, often a vivid expression of certain sensations or sensory perceptions e.g. sound, movement, colour, shape or action. Such words are especially common in African languages. In Shona, ideophones are called nyaudzosingwi. The ability to interpret or understand these words relies largely on knowledge of other words in the same language.

Below are some ideophones/ nyaudzosingwi beginning with Shona sounds ‘a’ and ‘ba’, as defined in the Standard Shona Dictionary (M. Hannan, S.J.). Different dialects are represented as M – chiManyika, Z – chiZezuru, Ko – chiKorekore, K – chiKaranga and Ko(B) – chiBudya.

nyaudzosingwi – a

ideophone	description	dialect
1. aku	receiving rudely without thanking	M
2. ambu	lifting groundnuts	K
3. anga	floating	K
4. angarara	looking at with astonishment	K
5. angarara	floating	K
6. ani	spreading out to dry	M
7. anyu	unbending, forcing apart or open (metal)	K/ M

nyaudzosingwi – ba

ideophone	description	dialect
8. ba	catching sight of	K /Ko /M /Z
9. ba	striking	K /Ko /Z
10. babandu	crunching	Z
11. badanu	flaking	Z
12. badanu	unsticking	Z
13. badara badara	suffering	Z
14. badara badara	searching eagerly	Z
15. bade	being nothing	Z
16. bade	putting on an expression of hunger	Z
17. badu	splitting	Z
18. badu	cracking	Z
19. badu	slapping	Z
20. bafafa	sitting loose-limbed and bent forward, as idiots do	K/ Z
21. bafafa	desiring to eat or drink	K /Z
22. bafamwa	sitting loose-limbed and bent forward, as idiots do	Z
23. bafu bafu	walking with slow heavy tread	Z
24. bama	catching sight of	Z
25. bamakata	sitting down quietly, shyly	K/ Z
26. bamama	being startled	K/ Z
27. bamama	glimpsing	K/ Z
28. bamamakata	being startled	Z
29. bambai bambai	walking stiff-leggedly	Z
30. bamu	splitting/ cracking open	K/ M/ Z
31. banan’ana	shining clearly	M
32. bandanu	breaking up hard ground, digging deeply	Z
33. banga	putting in safe place; packing up	Z
34. banganu	Be clear. Brighten up.	K/ Z
35. banganu	Awaken or recover consciousness	K/ Z
36. banganyi	being smashed	Z
37. bangu	striking drum with anything	M
38. bangu	striking drum with hand	Z
39. bangu	striking metal	M
40. bangu	striking face with hand	Z
41. bangu	striking football	M
42. bangu	sun striking on head	Z
43. bangwa	following (especially path)	Z
44. bani	gripping, taking hold of with fingers(thick wood)	Z
45. bani	pinching	Z
46. banzanu	splitting (thick wood)	Z
47. badzu	splitting (especially wood; large piece)	Z
48. banzu	splitting (especially wood; large piece)	Z
49. bapfu	biting soft fruit	Z
50. barabada	rising from lying down	K/ M/ Z
51. barabada	rising from lying down (with difficulty)	M/ Z
52. barabada	rising from lying down (slowly)	K
53. barabadu	rising from lying down	M/ Z
54. barabara	rising from lying down	Z
55. baranganda	lightning flashing as thunder claps	Z
56. baranganda	being clever	Z
57. barara	spreading widely (e.g. in open plain); extending over an area	K/ M/ Z
58. barara	catching sight of	Z
59. bari	sparking (one)	K/ M/ Z
60. barivafa	desiring to eat or drink	Z
61. baru	tearing (large object)	Z
62. batata	welcoming at sight	Z
63. bate bate	repeatedly and randomly feeling with hands	Z
64. bati	kindling, starting to burn	K/ Z
65. batu	catching	K/ M/ Z
66. bau	acting quickly	Ko(B) /Z
67. bawu	acting quickly	Ko(B)
68. bayi	stabbing; pricking	K /M / Z
69. bayu	stabbing quickly; pricking	K /M / Z
70. bazanu	sorting; dividing into different kinds	M /Z

Struggling with ideophones/ nyaudzosingwi as a Shona speaker probably means you are somewhat struggling with the language in general. For certain words, you can easily formulate your own ideophones. Try it!

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nyaudzosingwi – a

nyaudzosingwi – ba