lth eh chah ih

Also shortened to just łééchąą’, the Navajo word łééchąą’í refers to domesticated dogs.

Inside this word is the separate chąą’. This is a word meaning ‘excrement, feces, poop, etc.’.

This, like many other Navajo words, is intended to be an easy, yet unique, descriptor. So the entire word is saying, in not a vulgar sense, ‘the pooping pet.’ It is perhaps a remark on the relative lack of discretion on a typical dog’s part when “doing business.”

[See mósí for cat.]