TFA English Vocab List Flashcards
Agadi-nwayi
An old woman
Agbala
Woman; also used for a man who has taken on title
Ani
Earth goddess
Chi
Personal god
Efulefu
Worthless man
Egwugwu
Masquerader, who impersonates one of the ancestral spirits of the village
Ekwe
Wooden drum
Eneke-nti-oba
Kind of bird
Eze-agadi-nwayi
Old woman’s teeth
Foo foo
Food made from yarns, serves a chief role in the annual Feast of the New Yam
Iba
Fever
Ilo
The village green, assemblies for sports, discussions, and so on take place
Inyanga
Showing off, bragging
Isa-fi
If a wife had been separated from her husband for some time and were then to be reunited with him, this ceremony would be held to ascertain that she had not been unfaithful to him during the time of their separation
Iei-uwa
Special stone, forms the link between an ogbanje and the spirit world; only if the iyi-uwa were discovered
Jigida
String of waist beads worn by women
Kola nut
Food used to greet visitors and guests
Kwenu
Approval/greeting
Ndichie
Elders
Nna ayi
Our father
Nno
Welcome
Nso-ani
A religious offense, of a kind abhorred by everyone, literally earth’s taboo
Nza
Very small bird
Obi
Large living quarters of the head of the family
Obodo dike
The land of the brave
Ochu
Murder or manslaughter
Ogbanje
A changeling; a child who repeatedly dies and returns to its mother to be beborn. It is almost impossible to eing up an ogbanje child without it dying, unless its iyi-iwa is first found and destroyed
Ogene
Gong
Oji odu achu-ijiji-o
Cow (i.e., the one that uses its tail to drive flies away)
Oso
An outcast; having been dedicated to a god, the OSU was taboo and was not allowed to mix with the freeborn in any way
Oye
1 of 4 market days
Ozo
The name of one of the four work titles or ranks
Palm wine
Fermented palm sap, for celebration and ceremony
Tufia
Curse or Oath
Udu
Pottery drum
Uli
Women’s dye, for drawing patterns on the skin
Umunada
Family gathering of daughters, for which the female kinsfolk return to their village or origin
Umunna
Wide group of kinsmen (the masculine form of the word umunada)
Uri
Part of betrothal ceremony, when dowry is paid
Yam
Edible root; most valuable cash crop grown in the village