nyiam

Buli (Ghana) edit

Noun edit

nyiam

water
- 2006, Bulsa Sunsuelima: Erotic Folktales of the Bulsa in Northern Ghana, volume 2, pages 110 and 111:
  [Nipowa] ain wa be ngari nyiam te fi [wa] ya? [...] Wa nye nyiam te wa, wa so ya.
  [The woman] asked if she should fetch water andgive it to you [to him]? [...] She brought him water and he washed [himself].

White Hmong edit

Etymology edit

This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “Not mentioned by Ratliff at all. The only other word in the area with similar form and semantics is the sound-symbolic Japanese にやにや (niyaniya, “grinning”); perhaps the Hmong term is also an ad-hoc sound-symbolic formation then.”

Pronunciation edit

IPA^(key): /ɲiə̯˩̰/

Verb edit

nyiam

to like, to favor, to care for
Kuv nyiam cev tiab no. ― I like this dress.

References edit

Heimbach, Ernest E. (1979) White Hmong — English Dictionary‎^[1], SEAP Publications, →ISBN, page 219.