-erũ
Kikuyu
Etymology
Hinde (1904) records kierru as an equivalent of English white in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu.[1]
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /ɛ̀ɾóꜜ/
- As for Tonal Class, Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 3 with a disyllabic stem, together with kĩhaato, mbembe, kiugo, and so on.
Adjective
-erũ
- white
- light-colored
Inflection
agreement of -erũ
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Class 1, Class 2 | mwerũ | erũ |
| Class 3, Class 4 | mwerũ | mĩerũ |
| Class 5, Class 6 | rĩerũ | meerũ |
| Class 7, Class 8 | kĩerũ | njerũ |
| Class 9, Class 10 | njerũ | njerũ |
| Class 11, Class 10 | rwerũ | njerũ |
| Class 12, Class 13 | kerũ | twerũ |
| Class 14, Class 6 | mwerũ | meerũ |
| Class 15, Class 6 | kwerũ | meerũ |
| Class 16 | herũ | - |
Derived terms
(Nouns)
- werũ class 14
(Proverbs)
- Kamau mwerũ nĩ airaga
- mwarĩ mwerũ nĩ magambo
- mwarĩ mwerũ ndaragũragĩrwo
Related terms
(Verbs)
- kwerũha
References
- Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 66–7. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- “-erũ” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 95. Oxford: Clarendon Press.