Mòoré

Mooré

Niger-Congo (Gur)

FamilyNiger-Congo (Gur) Speakers~7M ScriptLatin (with ɛ ɔ ɩ ʊ) CountriesBurkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo Official inBurkina Faso (national) Vitalitysafe ISO 639-3mos

Mooré (Mossi) is the principal language of Burkina Faso, the mother tongue of the Mossi people, who form roughly 50% of the country's population and historically founded the powerful Mossi kingdoms of Ouagadougou, Yatenga, and Tenkodogo. It is a Gur language with two phonemic tones and characteristic ATR vowel harmony, written in Latin orthography with additional letters such as ɛ, ɔ, ɩ, ʊ. Public-health and literacy media in Burkina Faso lean heavily on Mooré-language broadcasting.

Where it is spoken

31 core words in Mooré

Water

koom

/koːm/

Fire

bʋgʋm

/bʊɡʊm/

Sun

wəntinga

/wəntiŋɡa/

Moon

kiuugu

/kiuːɡu/

Star

ãdga

/ãdɡa/

Mother

ma

/ma/

Father

ba

/ba/

I

mam

/mãm/

You

fo

/fʊ/

Name

yʋʋre

/jʊːre/

Eye

nin

/nin/

Hand

nug

/nuɡ/

Heart

sũur

/sũːr/

Love

nong

/noŋɡ/

Tree

tɩɩg

/tɪːɡ/

House

roogo

/roːɡo/

Dog

baaga

/baːɡa/

Cat

yʋʋga

/jʊːɡa/

Eat

/dɪ/

Drink

/jʊ/

One

a yɛmbɛr

/a jɛmbɛr/

Two

yiibu

/jiːbu/

Hello

ne y yibeoogo

/ne i jibeoːɡo/

Thank you

barka

/barka/

Good

sõma

/sõma/

Words compared

Compared with related Niger-Congo (Gur) languages

Meaning MooréMampruliDagbaniKoyraboro SenniKoyra ChiiniKurdish (Sorani)Braj Bhasha
Water koom /koːm/ kuom /kuom/ kom /kɔm/ hari /hari/ hari /hari/ ئاو /ɑːw/ पानी /paːniː/
Fire bʋgʋm /bʊɡʊm/ booma /boːma/ buɣim /buɣim/ nuune /nuːne/ nuune /nuːne/ ئاگر /ɑːɡɪɾ/ आग /aːɡ/
Sun wəntinga /wəntiŋɡa/ wuntiri /wuntiri/ wuntaŋa /wuntaŋa/ wayna /wajna/ wari /wari/ خۆر /xoːɾ/ सूरज /suːrədʒ/
Moon kiuugu /kiuːɡu/ gɔoŋ /ɡɔːŋ/ goli /ɡoli/ handu /handu/ handu /handu/ مانگ /mɑːŋɡ/ चंद्र /tʃəndɾ/
Star ãdga /ãdɡa/ ŋmariga /ŋmariɡa/ saŋmariga /saŋmariɡa/ handariya /handaːɾija/ handariya /handaːɾija/ ئەستێرە /ʔæsteːɾæ/ तारा /taːraː/
Mother ma /ma/ ma /ma/ ma /ma/ nya /ɲa/ nya /ɲa/ دایک /dɑːjɪk/ मैया /məjjaː/
Father ba /ba/ ba /ba/ ba /ba/ baaba /baːba/ baaba /baːba/ باوک /bɑːwk/ बाप /baːp/
I mam /mãm/ mani /mani/ mani /máni/ ay /aj/ ay /aj/ من /mɪn/ हौं /ɦɔ̃ː/
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