mbiro

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Kikuyu[edit]

Etymology[edit]

Derived from kũira (to turn black).[1]

Pronunciation[edit]

As for Tonal Class, Benson (1964) classifies this term into Class 3 with a disyllabic stem, together with kĩhaato, mbembe, kiugo, and so on.

Noun[edit]

mbiro class 9/10 (plural mbiro)

  1. soot, smut[1]
  2. lampblack[1]

References[edit]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 “mbiro” in Benson, T.G. (1964). Kikuyu-English dictionary, p. 273. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
  2. ^ Yukawa, Yasutoshi (1981). "A Tentative Tonal Analysis of Kikuyu Nouns: A Study of Limuru Dialect." In Journal of Asian and African Studies, No. 22, 75–123.