-CHIIʼ

Navajo

Etymology

Probably from Proto-Athabaskan *čig (“to be red ochre”). Often occurs with intensive infix -x- indicating a deeper, browner color tone.

Root

-CHIIʼ

1. red

Theme	Category	Bases	Transitive bases (O + ł)
łi + Ø	adjectival	S is red (neuter impf.) łichííʼ dinilchííʼ halchííʼ
d		S is red (neuter perf.) deeshchiiʼ haachiiʼ haashchiiʼ kʼíjíchiiʼ naashchiiʼ naachiiʼ náshchiiʼ bighájíchiiʼ
Ø		S becomes — yiichííh ↳ bílátaʼiichííh diichííh ńdiniichxííh	S makes O — yiyiiłchííh ↳ ádiilchííh (+d refl.) ↳ néíyiiłchííh (ná-TRANS)
Ø	motion	red S moves naachiih (CONT) yichih (PROG)
Ø	conversive	S put ochre on O yichííh (CONCL) ↳ ádíchííh (+d refl.)

Stem set

Aspect	IMP	PERF	FUT	ITER	OPT
CONCL	-chííh	-chííʼ	-chih	-chih	-chííh
TRANS	-chííh	-chiiʼ	-chih	-chih	-chííh
CONT	-chiih	-chiiʼ	-chih	-chih	-chiih
REP	-chih	-	-	-	-
NEUT	-chííʼ	-chiiʼ	-	-	-

See also Appendix: Roots and stems derivation.

Antonyms

Colors:

• -BAʼ (gray)
• -GAII (white)
• -TSOII (yellow)
• -TŁʼIIZH (blue, green)
• -ZHĮ́Į́ʼ (black)

Derived terms

Navajo terms belonging to the root -CHIIʼ (red)