-irũ

See also: Appendix:Variations of "iru"

Kikuyu edit

Etymology edit

Hinde (1904) records -iru as an equivalent of English black in “Jogowini dialect” of Kikuyu, listing also “Ulu dialect” (spoken then from Machakos to coastal area) of Kamba -ziu and “Nganyawa dialect” (spoken then in Kitui District) of Kamba -wiu as its equivalents.^[1]

Pronunciation edit

IPA^(key): /ìɾóꜜ/

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 edit

-irũ

black
dark-colored

Inflection edit

agreement of -irũ

	Singular	Plural
Class 1, Class 2	mũirũ	airũ
Class 3, Class 4	mũirũ	mĩirũ
Class 5, Class 6	rĩirũ	mairũ
Class 7, Class 8	kĩirũ	njirũ
Class 9, Class 10	njirũ	njirũ
Class 11, Class 10	rũirũ	njirũ
Class 12, Class 13	kairũ	tũirũ
Class 14, Class 6	mũirũ	mairũ
Class 15, Class 6	kũirũ	mairũ
Class 16	hairũ	-

Derived terms edit

(Nouns)

mũirũ class 3
ũirũ class 14
mũtĩ-mũirũ class 3

Related terms edit

(Verbs)

kũira

References edit

^ Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 8–9. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

“-irũ” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 190. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

[hh1904-1] Hinde, Hildegarde (1904). Vocabularies of the Kamba and Kikuyu languages of East Africa, pp. 8–9. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

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