Oneida Language Dictionary

The Oneida language is spoken by those known as Oneida.  Oneida tribes may be found today in New York and Wisconsin.

The dictionary pages provide alphabetical listings in English word sequence. The audio portion can be heard when using the English to Creek or Creek to English search pages. When using these search pages, the words that match your search criteria will be displayed.

When searching, enter the word or beginning few characters of a word. When the search word is found, if the Creek word on the second line is displayed, then you can assume the audio for this word is available. When searching Oneida words, the upside down v is just entered as a v, a dot is ignored, and the question mark looking character may be entered as a ?.

We must also suggest paying close attention to the nomenclature of the word. Often, words that are used as both a noun and a verb will have different spellings for each.

Since we can not safely display the fonts necessary for many of the American Indian alphabets, our American Indian words are displayed in an image file. The American Indian search word is spelled using normal English characters and is used when searching for the American Indian word.

Please be patient while an alphabetical listing page loads. The American Indian spellings are image files and this reduces the load time.

Oneida Spelling System

Vowels
Oneida has six vowels, and each letter stands for only one sound.
"a" has the sound of the "a" in ah or father.
"e" has the sound of the "e" in egg or eight.
"i" has the sound of the "i" in ski or machine.
"o" has the sound of the "o" in hope or low.
"u" has the sound of the "un" in tune (nasal).
"ʌ" has the sound of the "on" in son.

Consonants
"h, l, n, w, and y" have the same sound as they usually do in English.
"s" often has a sound halfway between the "s" is sea and the z-like sound of the "s" in was. When it comes between two vowels it always has the z-like sound. When it comes before or after "h", then is has the sound of the "s" in sea.
"t" normally has the sound of the "t" in city, water, and stove. In those words the "t" sounds more like "d". If a "k", "h", or "s" follows a "t", the "t" has the English sound as in top.
"k" normally has a g-like sound as in skill. If a "t", "s", or "h" follows, it sounds like the usual English "k" as in kill.
"?" is used to represent a special consonant sound called a glottal stop that English doesn't have. The sound is made by quickly stopping the flow of air in the throat.
" ´ " is written above a vowel to indicate the stressed syllable in a word.
" · " is used after a vowel to indicate the vowel is lengthened or dragged out. Vowels with both the dot and stress mare have a slightly falling tone.
" _ " sounds are whispered and not said aloud.

Special Combinations
"tsy" or "tsi" has the "j" sound as in jam or judge.
"tshy" or "tshi" has the "ch" sound as in church.
"sy" has the "sh" sound as in shoe or hush.