e- (n/n) shame; shamefulness; modesty, shyness; embarrassment, okukwasa ensonyi, to put to shame; to embarrass, okuggwa ensonyi, to be shameless/utterly lacking in good manners, cf. sonyiwa, sonyiwala, amansonyinsonyi.

okukwasa ensonyi, okuswaza.

be, okukwatibwa ensonyi, okuwemuka, okuswala, okukongoba, okwebbmbabomba.

make, okukwasa ensonyi, okuswaza, okuwemuukiriza.

ensonyi.

okukwasa ensonyi, okukopiwaza.

n., ensonyi, obuwemu; fall into d., okuswala, okuseeseetuka, okusaabulukuka.

v., okukwasa ensonyi, okuswaza, okuwemuukiriza.

a nsonyi.

v., okuswaza, okukwasa ensonyi, okuweebuula.

ensonyi.

e- (li/ma) egg. amagi amasii ke, fried eggs, kukuba za ku magi, to be a coward, act in a cowardly way, lit. strike the hens (enkoko is implied by za) (who are sitting) on the eggs. Kiriba kya nsonyi bwe mulirya eggi. lit. It will be a shame if you eat the egg. This derives from the proverb okulya eggi okwesub.ya omuwula, to eat the egg and miss the meat. The implication is that if one allows an egg to develop into a chicken the gain will be greater. Bulijjo afuna magi mu kubala. He always gets zeros in arithmetic, cf. ekigi.

a nsonyi; rel. form of okuswaza.

ensonyi, okuswala.

kaba, a nsonyi.

ensonyi, obukaba.

ensonyi, obugwagwa.

a nsonyi, gwagwa, seegu; vide okwetiiluula, okweyagaagula, okukunama, okuwolongerera.

a- (ka/bu) sensitive plant, plant which contracts when touched; shame. cf. 1 fa, ensonyi.

cf. ggwa, ensonyi.

etc.; take, grasp with/by means of; hand over; trap (an animal); fasten; cause to freeze/curdle, etc. ku- kwasa ensonyi, to shame, put to shame, kukwasa muntu, to catch a person (e.g., in the act of theft); to get hold of a person (who is hard to contact).

be taken, seized, etc. okukwatibwa ensonyi, to feel shame.

be taken in/for, etc. okukwatirwa ensonyi, to feel shame for. Baamukwatirwa ekisa. They felt sorry for him/her.

o- no plur. (lu/n) shame; feeling of shame; bashfulness, shyness, cf. fa, ensonyi.

ensonyi, obuwombeefu.

ensonyi.

ekyesittaza, ensonyi, okwesittaza.

okukwasa ensonyi.

nsonyi.

rel. form of okuwulira amangu; s. plant, akafansonyi.

n., ensonyi.

v., okukwasa ensonyi, okuswaza.

a nsonyi; rel. form of v. foreg.

be, okukwatibwa ensonyi.

-sonyiyi, sonyiwala, eki- sonyiwo, omusonyiwe, omusonyiyi, ensonyi.

ensonyi.

go sour (e.g., of milk), kufa mwoyo, to become disheartened/depressed. kufaako nsonyi, to die of shame/embarrassment. (Ebintu) bifa bantu. You cannot always win/be successful/get what you want (said in self-commiseration after a failure). Akanaafa tekawulira nnombe. (prov.) lit. The little (animal, akasolo, implied) who is to die does not hear (the sound of) the horn. Danger comes unawares. The infinitive okufa or okufa obufi serves as an intensifier for a preceding verb. Yazina okufa. She danced a great deal/ with great intensity. Omuwala yafaanana Nnambi okufa obufi. The girl resembled Nnambi in every detail. She was the very image of N.

a- n/»r. (li/ma) shyness. Amansonyinsonyi gassa olugave. (prov.) Shyness caused the death of the anteater. Perhaps similar in sense to Nothing ventured, nothing gained, cf. ensonyi.

a nsonyi.

adv. almost. (The verb in a clause containing kata is in the subjunctive. This is usually rendered by an English past tense. Ensonyi kata zibatte. They almost died of shame, lit. shame almost killed them. See katono.

mortify oneself, undergo sacrifices. cf. -fu, ffeffeffe, effiire, effiiro, aka- fansonyi, akinfiira, kyafakirinaki, omu- fiirwa, omufiisa, omufu, enfiirabulago, ssemufu.