uh kay

The first post for ak’éí gave you the Navajo terms for elderly relatives.

Here are terms for siblings:

• ádí (shádí / nádí / bádí) – older sister
• adeezhí (shideezhí / nideezhí / bideezhí) – younger sister
• ánaaí (shínaaí / nínaaí / bínaaí) – older brother
• atsilí (shitsilí / nitsilí / bitsilí) – younger brother

The first terms are non possessive, followed by the first, second, then third person forms i.e. “my older sister” / “your older sister” / “his/her older sister.”

It is common to use the term “friend” (shik’is) between brothers. Siblings can refer to each other using ‘shilah’ but only if the siblings are of the different genders.

Rounding off this set of terms is the word for a spouse, which is ach’ooní.

(Sometimes it’s helpful to remember the proper sibling terms by recalling that sister terms have ‘ad-‘ and in both cases of brother and sister, the elder term starts with a high-tone.)