Entries explained

 

Every entry in this dictionary includes three main parts. First comes the Nyankpa headword, shown in bold. This is followed by the grammatical part of speech, shown in an abbreviated form in italics (see the Abbreviations page for the full grammatical terms). Finally, there is a short definition in English.

Explain basic entries

Most entries also include an audio recording of the Nyankpa word, which can be played by clicking on the loudspeaker symbol, as shown in the examples below:

Explain audio

Wherever there is a difference between the Ejung and Iŋmgbe dialects, a dialect label in [square brackets] shows the dialect of the headword:

Explain dialect labels

Where there are two or more different variants of the word - which can happen because of different dialects, noun class agreement or free variation - the main entry is followed by the words 'see variant':

Explain variants

Sometimes, a word may form part of one or more complex forms (often compound nouns) with their own definitions. Where this is the case, the complex forms are shown in separate paragraphs beneath the main entry, each one being introduced by a bullet point. In the example below, the main entry is the word kpam, and it is used in three complex forms:

Explain complex forms

Some words cannot stand alone in normal speech, but always take a prefix. These words are introduced with an asterisk and followed by the different forms they can take with the prefixes added, as shown in the example below:

Explain bound stems