This is a Swadesh list of words in Afrikaans English .
Presentation [ edit ] For further information, including the full final version of the list, read the Wikipedia article: Swadesh list .American linguist Morris Swadesh believed that languages changed at measurable rates and that these could be determined even for languages without written precursors. Using vocabulary lists, he sought to understand not only change over time but also the relationships of extant languages. To be able to compare languages from different cultures, he based his lists on meanings he presumed would be available in as many cultures as possible. He then used the fraction of agreeing cognates between any two related languages to compute their divergence time by some (still debated) algorithms. Starting in 1950 with 165 meanings, his list grew to 215 in 1952, which was so expansive that many languages lacked native vocabulary for some terms. Subsequently, it was reduced to 207, and reduced much further to 100 meanings in 1955. A reformulated list was published posthumously in 1971.
№ English Afrikaansedit (207) 1 I (1sg )ek 2 you (2sg )jy informal u formal 3 he , she , it (3sg )hy 4 we (1pl )ons 5 you (2pl )julle informal u formal 6 they (3pl )hulle 7 this dié hierdie 8 that dat daardie 9 here hier 10 there daar 11 who wie interrogative 12 what wat interrogative 13 where waar interrogative 14 when wanneer interrogative 15 how hoe interrogative 16 not nie 17 all alle 18 many baie vele 19 some party sekere sommige 20 few min 21 other ander 22 one een 23 two twee 24 three drie 25 four vier 26 five vyf 27 big groot 28 long lank lang 29 wide wyd 30 thick dik 31 heavy swaar 32 small klein 33 short kort 34 narrow nou smal 35 thin dun 36 woman vrou 37 man (adult male)man 38 man (human being)mens 39 child kind 40 wife vrou gade eggenoot 41 husband man gade eggenoot 42 mother moeder 43 father vader 44 animal dier 45 fish vis 46 bird voël 47 dog hond 48 louse luis 49 snake slang 50 worm wurm 51 tree boom 52 forest woud bos 53 stick stok 54 fruit vrug 55 seed saad 56 leaf blaar 57 root wortel 58 bark (of a tree)bas 59 flower blom 60 grass gras 61 rope tou koord 62 skin vel 63 meat vleis 64 blood bloed 65 bone been 66 fat (noun)vet 67 egg eier 68 horn horing 69 tail stert 70 feather veer 71 hair haar 72 head kop 73 ear oor 74 eye oog 75 nose neus 76 mouth mond 77 tooth tand 78 tongue (organ)tong 79 fingernail nael vingernael 80 foot voet 81 leg been 82 knee knie 83 hand hand 84 wing vlerk 85 belly maag 86 guts ingewande 87 neck nek 88 back rug 89 breast bors 90 heart hart 91 liver lewer 92 to drink drink 93 to eat eet 94 to bite byt 95 to suck suig 96 to spit spoeg 97 to vomit kots opgooi braak 98 to blow waai blaas 99 to breathe asemhaal 100 to laugh lag 101 to see sien 102 to hear hoor 103 to know weet 104 to think dink 105 to smell ruik 106 to fear vrees bang 107 to sleep slaap 108 to live lewe 109 to die sterf doodgaan 110 to kill doodmaak 111 to fight veg 112 to hunt jag 113 to hit slaan tref 114 to cut knip sny 115 to split kloof 116 to stab steek 117 to scratch krap 118 to dig grawe 119 to swim swem 120 to fly vlieg 121 to walk loop stap wandel 122 to come kom 123 to lie (as in a bed) lê 124 to sit sit 125 to stand staan opstaan action 126 to turn (intransitive) draai 127 to fall val 128 to give gee 129 to hold hou 130 to squeeze druk 131 to rub vryf 132 to wash was 133 to wipe vegen 134 to pull trek 135 to push stoot 136 to throw gooi 137 to tie bind knoop 138 to sew naai 139 to count tel 140 to say sê 141 to sing sing 142 to play speel 143 to float dryf sweef 144 to flow vloei 145 to freeze vries 146 to swell swel 147 sun son 148 moon maan 149 star ster 150 water water 151 rain reën 152 river rivier 153 lake meer 154 sea see 155 salt sout 156 stone klip 157 sand sand 158 dust stof 159 earth grond 160 cloud wolk 161 fog mis 162 sky lug 163 wind wind briesie 164 snow sneeu 165 ice ys 166 smoke rook 167 fire vuur 168 ash as 169 to burn brand 170 road pad 171 mountain berg 172 red rooi 173 green groen 174 yellow geel 175 white wit 176 black swart 177 night nag 178 day dag 179 year jaar 180 warm warm 181 cold koud 182 full vol 183 new nuut nuwe 184 old oud 185 good goed 186 bad sleg 187 rotten vrot 188 dirty vuil 189 straight reguit 190 round rond 191 sharp (as a knife)skerp 192 dull (as a knife)stomp 193 smooth glad 194 wet nat 195 dry droog 196 correct reg korrek 197 near naby 198 far ver 199 right regs 200 left links 201 at by 202 in in binne 203 with met 204 and en 205 if as 206 because omdat 207 name naam
Swadesh lists
Individual languages
Language families, family branches, and geographic groupings
Constructed languages
Reconstructed proto-languages
(edit this template )