Yaadha Gunidjarr-gu (Mothers' Day)

Gunii – Mum (pronounced with stress on ‘ii’
gunidjarr – mother

It’s quite important to try and pronounce the ‘rr’ at the end of the word gunidjarr, because there is another word gunidjaa which means ‘orphan’ – this is probably from gunidjarr-dhalibaa, ‘mother-without’ (the double 'aa' in this case means the stress is on the second syllable). People who find it difficult to say the rolled ‘rr’ might find it useful to start by saying ‘d’ softly.

NB There is also another word guni ‘native bee’ (prounced with stress on ‘gu’), but it is not known if this is a related word.

Another word for 'mother' or 'Mum' is Ngambaa, probably related to ngamu 'breast', or 'milk'.

Other words which may be useful:

Badhii ‘Nan’. Or if you wish to differentiate, Badhii ‘Nan - mother’s mother’ and Mamaay ‘Nan - father’s mother’. (In both words the double letters show that the stress is on the second syllable). A less common word for 'Nan - mother's mother' is Waabi (with the stress on the 'aa').