-ZÉÍ

Navajo

Etymology

From Proto-Athabaskan *saxʸ ~ *zay (“sand, to crumble”). Compare Navajo séí (“sand”).

Cognates found in Tanacross thaayh (“sand”) and also Tlingit xagw (“sand”).

Root

-ZÉÍ

1. to crumble, be crumbly (as soft sandstone)

Theme	Category	Bases	Transitive bases (O + ł)
di	?	S crumbles dizéí (MOM)	S crumbles O yidiséí
di	adjectival	S is crumbly dizéí (NEUT)

Stem set

Aspect	IMP	PERF	FUT	ITER	OPT
MOM	-zéí	-zéí	-zéí	-zéí	-zéí
NEUT	-zéí	-	-	-	-

See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.

Synonyms

to crumble, fall:

• -DÁÁZ

 

Derived terms

Navajo terms belonging to the root -ZÉÍ (crumble)