Kinship words show how an Igbo person is placed in the world. The immediate family is ezi na ụlọ, literally “the compound and the house”. Beyond it lie wider circles. Echeruo defines ụmụ nna as “brethren, cousins, kinsmen” (the umunna, the patrilineal group, central to Igbo social life), ikwu as kindred or lineage (and ikwu nne as relations on the mother’s side) and ogbo as an age-group.
- nne · nna
- mother · father. Nne m “my mother”. As adjectives, nne also means “main, female”.
- nwa · ụmụ
- child · children, offspring, descendants (Echeruo). Nwa nwoke son, nwa nwanyị daughter (Obia).
- nwanne
- sibling, from nwa nne “child of the mother”. Nwanne nwoke brother, nwanne nwanyị sister.
- okpara · ada
- first son · first daughter. The first son has variant forms across dialects (okpala, okwara, opara); ada is also a courteous way of addressing a young woman.
- di · nwunye
- husband (“lord and master”, also “expert” as in di mgba, wrestling master) · wife.
- nna nna · nne nne
- grandfather · grandmother. Nne nne is also a title of deference for an elderly woman (Echeruo).
- ọgọ
- in-law: ọgọ nwoke son-in-law, ọgọ nwanyị daughter-in-law (Obia).
- ibe
- companion, neighbour; ibe nna paternal cousin, ibe nne maternal cousin.
- nwanyị bụ nwa
- “A female child is also a child”: a proverbial phrase recorded under nwanyị (Echeruo).
Sources for this article
- Echeruo 2001, entries nne, nna, nwa, ụmụ nna, ikwu, okpara, ada
- Obia 2020, family and people, pp. 43–48