INTRODUCTION

Symbols Used:

I. Word Classes
N Noun
V Verb
ADJ Adjective
ADV Adverb
PART Particle
PREP Preposition
CON Connector
INTERJ Interjection
II. Letters of the Cebuano-Visayan Alphabet and Their
Corresponding Sounds
A a (as in mama, somewhat like the /a/ in
B ba
K ka
D da
E i (as in basket)/ e (as in seda)
G ga
H ha
I i
L la
M ma
N na
N6 nga
0 o (as in Osper)/ u (as in tuhod)
P pa
R ra
S sa
T ta
viii

U u
W wa
Y ya
The glottal stop, which is the sound formed by momen-
tary stopping of the air passage in the glottis, is represented
finally by an apostrophe /'/ and medially, occurring between a
consonant and a vowel or vice-versa, by a hyphen /-/. Initially
and intervocalically, i.e., between two vowels, it is not repre-
sented.
e.g. bâta1 child
bât-ang buttocks
âyo fix
maâyo good
III. Other Conventions Used
VAR: represents the dialectal variant of an entry,
e.g. BULAN N (VAR: bûwan)
A hyphen before an affix signifies a suffix, i.e., one
that is attached to the end of a root/stem,
e.g. /-a/ + dakô' > dakoS
A hyphen after an affix signifies a prefix, i.e. one
that is attached to the beginning of a root/stem,
e.g. /mu-/ + lakâw > mulakâw
A hyphen before and after an affix signifies an infix,
i.e., one that is inserted into a root/stem,
e.g. /-in-/ + tahi' > tinahi'
A discontinuous affix is represented by a hyphen after
the first part of the affix followed by three dots, then,
followed again by a hyphen before the second part of the affix.
e.g. /pa- -on/ + kâon > pakaônon
Two slant lines enclose an affix,
e.g. /mi-/
 ix

A colon separates the actor focus affixes from the af-

fixes of all the other focuses.
e.g. /mu-, maN-:-on, i-/
A comma represents a series of similar meanings of an
entry; a semi-colon separates different but closely related mean-
ings of an entry.
e.g. PAPA N (pa, short form) father, daddy, dad,
pop; The Pope
A comma also represents a series of affixes belonging to
a group.
e.g. /mu-, mag-, maka-, maN-, manga-: -on, i-, -an/
Underscoring or underlining is used for the verbal affix
and whatever is in focus.
e.g. ManihSpon ako.
Parentheses enclose either the variant or the short form
of an entry.
e.g. ARKILA N (VAR: Srkila)
KITA PRO (ta, short form)
They are also used to enclose other information necessary
for the meaning of an entry or for the translation of a Cebuano
sentence.
e.g. PANIT N skin (man); rind (fruit)
Manghampak ako. I whip (people).
Brackets enclose irregular forms which are otherwise not
easily discernible to the dictionary user. These irregular
forms result from a combination of the affix plus the root/stem,
e.g. hur5t + /-on/ [hfrtdon]
bSsa + /-an/ [basShan]
/maN-/ + kSon [mangSon]
/maN-/ + dak6p [manak6p]
/maN-/ + lakSw [manglSkaw]
X

An accent mark /'/ indicates the primary stress of two-

or-more-syliable words.
Although the spelling of borrowed Spanish words has been
retained, a few of the most commonly used words have been Cebu-
anoized in spelling, e.g. tinldor. The choice between i and e,
u and o has not been standardized. W and y, however, have been
used before vowels, instead of u and i.
e.g. BWINGGIT, FYAL
B. Entry Presentation
This dictionary contains 6,500 main entries of roots,
stems, affixes, derivations and common expressions. Main
entries of roots only have been expanded to include derivations
and also commonly used expressions. For instance, ABOHAN is
entered separately from ABO instead of under ABO. If a deriva-
tion is entered either immediately before or after the root/stem
from which it is derived and is a regular form, no reference to
the root/stem is given. However, if it is an irregular form,
then reference to the root/stem is given. If a derivation is
entered not immediately before or after the root/stem, reference
to the root is given by using the convention See , whether
it is a regular or an irregular form. (There are many deriva-
tions entered under letters K, M, P, and T.)
The actor focus affixes are given first, i.e., /mu-,
mag, maN-, manga-/ followed by the goal, benefactive locative,
and instrumental focus affixes, i.e., /-on, i-, -an/. Since
almost all, if not all, verb roots take the actor focus affix
/maka-/, this form has not been included in a verbal entry ex-
cept when it is the only appropriate or most commonly used prefix
that a verb root takes or when its use as an adjective is appar-
ently useful. Since there seems to be no real problem as to the
 xi

choice of particular affixes for the benefactive, locative and

instrumental focuses, the benefactive /-an/, the locative /-an/
and the instrumental /i-/, are not illustrated in sentences for
each verbal entry since the verb roots themselves lean towards
a common usage of these affixes. In general, all the other types
of affixes are excluded except when informants insist that par-
ticular verb roots ordinarily take affixes other than those given
above. The non-factual mood of the verbs is given except when
informants insist on the use of the factual for reasons of
naturalness of expressions and high functional load.
The majority of the entries that have sentence examples
are taken from Cebuano for Beginners by the authors of this
dictionary.
One English translation may be given for one or more
Cebuano sentences if this one translation captures the meaning
of the Cebuano. On the other hand, a Cebuano sentence may
have one or two English translations. The first translation
gives the closest meaning of the Cebuano sentence. The second
further clarifies the meaning.
Complete entry information includes the following:
1. Main entry in capital letters, (if there are two
pronunciations of an entry, both are entered in succession with
the one receiving the primary stress on the first syllable or
on the syllable closest to the first entered first.)
2. Word class to which the entry is assigned.
(The letters of the Cebuano-Visayan Alphabet, the affixes, and
the commonly used expressions are not classified at all. Hence,
the space for these is left blank.)
3. Variant and/or short forms.
4. Verbal affixes.
 5. Meaning/meanings.
6. Sentences with t r a n s l a t i o n s .
7. Reference t o the root/stem.
An entry w i l l have 1 and 5 , and may have any or a l l of
the r e s t .
C. C l a s s i f i c a t i o n of Words in Cebuano
1. Verbs
Verbs are characterized by verbal i n f l e c t i o n s . These
verbal i n f l e c t i o n s are f o c u s , mood and a s p e c t .
Focus
Focus i s the grammatical r e l a t i o n s h i p between the verb
and the topic in a verbal sentence. The verb may e i t h e r be a
verb root/stem o r a verb root/stem plus one or more a f f i x e s .
The topic i s a noun, a nominal o r s u b s t a n t i v a l expression in
focus which i s marked by the [ a n g ] / [ s i ] phrase or by i t s sub-
s t i t u t e s , the [ako] s e t of personal pronouns and the [ k i n i ] s e t
of demonstrative pronouns. Any of the following may be in
focus:
Actor (AF) the o r i g i n a t o r , a c t o r , or doer of
the action
Goal (GF) the o b j e c t or r e c e i v e r of the action
Beneficiary (BF) the r e c i p i e n t or t h a t f o r whom/for
which the action i s done
Location (LF) the place where the action occurs
Instrument (IF) the thing or o b j e c t used to perform
the action
Mood
Mood i s the a t t i t u d e or the f e e l i n g of the speaker
towards an action which he conceives as e i t h e r a f a c t or non-
f a c t , a request or a command. Mood in Cebuano may be one of
the following:
 xiii

Factual An action that has already been begun or

started.
Non-factual An action that has not been started or
begun yet.
Afactual An action that is either a request or a
command. The forms used with the
negatives wala and dili are also clas-
sified as afactual.
Aspect
Aspect is the condition or state of an action, i.e., the
type of action that is involved. There are two major types of
aspect in Cebuano: the non-causative and the causative.
Under the non-causative are the following:
Neutral - a momentary or an immediately-completed action.
Progressive - a voluntaiy durative action or one that
lasts over a period of time.
Aptative - an action that indicates ability, possibility,
opportunity, pure accident.
Distributive - an action that signifies either a plurality
of actor, object and/or action.
Neutral-progressive - an action that is either momentary
or durative depending on what is meant by the
speaker at the moment of speaking and/or the
situation that accompanies the performance of
the action.
Progressive-distributive - an action that lasts over a
period of time and has a plurality of either
actor, action, and/or object.
 xiv

Aptative-distributive- an action that has a plurality of

either actor, action, or object and indicates
ability, possibility or pure accident at the
same time.
Neutral-progressive-distributive- an action that is
either momentary or durative but has always
a plural object or action .
Neutral-reciprocal- an action that indicates an inter-
change of two actors and is immediately
completed t
Progressive-reciprocal- a durative action between two or
more actors.
The causative aspect indicates an action that has always a
causative actor, or the originator or cause of the action, and a
caused actor, or the real actor or agent of the action. The
causative actor causes the caused actor to do something. The
causative aspect affixes are a combination of the non-causative and
the causative affix /pa-/.
Neutral-causative—an action that lasts only nonentarily
or is immediately completed but is caused by
someone/something.
Progressive-causative- an action that takes place over a
longer period of time and is caused by some-
one/something .
Aptative-causative - an action that indicates ability,
possibility, or pure accident and is caused
by someone/something.
A chart of verbal affixes to show focus, mood, and aspect
appears on the next page.
 XV

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Focus Actor Goal Benefactive Locative Instrumental XV i

Aspect Mood

È
Neutral- manga- (none) manga-...-an í none)
Progress ive- nanga- (none) nanga-...-an ( none)

'T

(M <
Distributive panga- (none) nanga-...-i (none)

È
Neutral- makig- (none) (none) (none)

TU
nakig- (none) ( none) St- (none)

<
( none) (none) (none) (none)
Reciprocal

È
I
(none) (none) (none)

:
Progressive-

CM
(nonej ( none) f none)

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(none) ( none) (none)

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Reciprocal
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impa- pa-...-an
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Causative

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Progressive-
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 xvii

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xviii

2. Nouns
What are referred to as nouns are those roots/words which:
a. refer to an object, a place, a person
b. are marked by ang, s_i, ug, sa, ni, kang, para sa,
para ni, para kang, alang sa
c. may be pluralized by mga
d. may be replaced by personal and demonstrative
pronouns
e., may be nominalized by nominal affixes like -an,
-anan, ka-. ..-an, ka-...-on, -in-, ika-, mag-, mag-
+ CV, -on, -onon, paN-, pani-, tag-, taga-, tag-...
-on, ting-
f. show gender by the addition of the native word for
male/female to the word that it qualifies or by the
use of a to indicate the female sex and o to indicate
the male sex. The latter are borrowed from Spanish.
g. are cardinal numbers, days of the week, months of
the year, prices.
3. Pronouns
There are two types of pronouns: the personal and the
demonstrative. The personal pronouns are inflected for person
(first, second, and third), number (singular and plural, inclu-
sive and exclusive), and case (topic, agentive, and oblique).
The demonstrative pronouns are inflected for case (topic and
agentive/oblique).
There are four sets of personal pronouns which are shown
in the following charts.
 xix

Personal Pronouns
1st set, ako-class

Singular Plural
kami, mi (excl) 'we'
1st person ako, ko «I» k i t a , ta ( i n c l ) 'us*

2nd person ikaw, ka *you' kamo, mo 'you'

3rd person siya 'he, she* sila ' they'

set, ako-class

Singular Plural
amo fexcl) 'our, ours'
1st person ako 'ay, nine* a to ( i n c l ) 'our, ours*

2nd person imo 'your, yours' inyo 'your, yours'

3rd person iya ' h i s , her, hers* ila ' t h e i r , theirs'

set, nako-class

Singular Plural
namo (excl) 'we, our'
1st person nako, ko ' I , my* nato ( i n c l ) 'we, our'

2nd person nimo, mo 'you, your* ninyo 'you, your*

3rd person niya 'he/she, nila 'they, their 1

h i s , her, hers'
XX

4th set, kanako-class

Singular Plural
kanamo (excl) 'to/for
1st Person kanako 'to/for me' us'

2nd Person kanimo * to/for you* kaninyo 'to/for you*

3rd Person kaniya 'to/for him kanila 'to/for them1

or her'

There are six sets of demonstrative pronouns which are

shown below.
Demonstrative Pronouns
1st set

kiri 'this* (nearest the speaker, e.g. in the speaker's

hand)

kini 'this* (near the speaker)

kana •that* (near the hearer, far from the speaker)

kadto 'that over there* (far from both the speaker and the
hearer)
 xxi

2nd set, nia-class

dia •here" (nearest to speaker)

nia 'here' (near to speaker and hearer)

naa •there' (nearer to hearer than to speaker)

tua •over there' (far from both speaker and hearer; also
used for referrents out of sight from
both principals)

set, niini-class

niari •this' (nearest to speaker)

niini 'this' (near to both speaker and hearer),

niana ' that' ( near the hearer)

niadto •that over there' (far from both speaker and

hearer; also used for referrents
out of sight from both prin-
cipals)
xxii

4th set, dinhi-class

diri 'here* (nearest to speaker)

dinhi 'here* (near to speaker and hearer)

dinha •there* (near to hearer)

did to •over there* (far from both speaker and hearer;

also used for referrents out of sight
from both principals)

set, nganhi-class

ngari 'here* (nearest to speaker)

nganhi •here' (near to both speaker and hearer)

nganha •there' (near to hearer)

ngadto •over there' (far from both speaker and hearer;

also used for referrents out of
sight from both principals)
 xxiii

6th set, anhi-class

ari 'here* (nearest to speaker)

anhi •here' (near to both speaker and hearer)

anha 'there* (near to hearer)

adto 'over there' (far from both speaker and hearer;

also used for referrents out of sight
from both principals)

Question words like kinsa, unsa, kang kinsa, para kang

kinsa, 'who, what, whose, for whom' are classified as pronouns
since they substitute for nominal expressions and since their
kernel sentences i.e., the sentences from which they are derived,
show that they occupy the nominal position.
4. Adjectives
Adjectives are inflected for number and comparison. The
following are adjectives:
a. any root/stem that describes color, quality, size,
shape, mental, moral/physical state, with/without
adjectival affixes
b. any root/stem that takes the following affixes: /ma-,
ka-, pagka-, pala-, tig-/ and/or can be pluralized
by /-g-/.
c. limiting and ordinal numbers
d. any root/stem that takes mas, labing, /-in-...-an/
and/or may be reduplicated for comparison
5. Interjection
Any root, stem, word, or expression that is used as an
exclamation.
xxiv

6. Particles
The particles are subclassified into four groups:
a. Adverbs - Those which refer to time and manner.
These include:
Time words and expressions.
Question words like hain, asa, diin, ngano.
Roots/stems which take the following affixes: /ka-,
pagka-, maka-, tag-, tag-...-an, tuta- + -g-/ and
refer to frequency of occurrence of the action.
Adjective and/or sentence intensifiers.
b. Prepositions - These are the locational/sa-phrases
which consist of two components: a locational word
like tupad and the particle sa_.
c. Connector - A very small class which joins words,
phrases, or sentences.
d. (True) particles - These include uninflected words
like diay, baya, ra gud which amplify the meaning of
an utterance, and the case-marking particles which
mark the relationship of noun phrases to the verb.
They include ang, si, sa, ug, ni, kang, para ni, para sa,
para kang. A chart of the case-marking particles
follows.
 XXV

Personal Names General Nouns

Case
Singular Plural Singular Plural
ang ang-,
Topic si sila si mga
-y -y J

Agentive ni nila ni sa sa mga

Oblique kang sa sa-i

kanila ni «g mga
ni ugx
para kang alang sa alang sa<\
alang ni para ug para ugW
CEBUANO-VISAYAN
DICTIONARY