Cherokee Language Consortium Word List

Alternate Language Names

Tsalagi (ᏣᎳᎩ), ᏣᎳᎩ ᎦᏬᏂᎯᏍᏗ, Tsalagi Gawonihisdi, Giduwa.

Region

North Carolina, Alabama, Oklahoma, and California, United States.

Who

The Cherokee Nation, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, Northeastern State University in Oklahoma, Western Carolina University (Cherokee Language Consortium).

Others Involved

Unnamed Cherokee Speakers; Unnamed Cherokee Language Learners.

Publishing Information

This digital resource was created and most recently updated, as of mid-2025, in 2019. It is hosted on the Cherokee Nation website on the Language Department page.

How People are Cited

Bands and institutions which make up the Cherokee Language Consortium are listed on the dictionary’s description on the Cherokee Nation’s website on the Language Department page. Speakers and language learners who contributed are not cited by name.

How Information is Cited

Speakers and language learners are mentioned on the dictionary’s description on the Cherokee Nation’s website on the Language Department page. Contributors are not listed by name.

Where is Information Coming from

Information in this dictionary comes from fluent Cherokee speakers and Cherokee language learners appointed by the three federally-recognized Cherokee tribes. Contributors meet quarterly to develop new Cherokee words and curriculum for teaching the Cherokee language. These words are documented in the Cherokee Language Consortium resource.

Tools and Framework used

This dictionary is available as a digital resource (PDF).

Access

This dictionary is open access online through the Cherokee Nation’s website on the Language Department page.

Included Languages and Directionality

English to Cherokee.

Dialects Included

This dictionary contains information from the two major dialects of Cherokee: the Western (i.e., Overhill, Otali, or ᎣᏔᎵ) dialect common in Oklahoma and the Eastern (i.e., Middle, Kituwah, or ᎩᏚᏩ) dialect common in North Carolina.

Type of Dictionary

This is a bilingual, mono-directional word list.

How are Entries Organised

Entries are organized into a table and listed alphabetically by English. Each entry is a row of the table. The table includes three columns: the English head word, the Cherokee translation in the syllabary, and the romanized representation. Entries where the Cherokee differs based on dialect includes both Cherokee terms separated by a comma and identified by the dialect’s abbreviation in both the syllabary and romanized columns. No other information is included in entries.

There is a brief Phrases section at the end of the resource organized in the same table format as the other entries.

Other Features

Other Notes

This dictionary was included in the Cherokee-English Dictionary Online Database created by the CED-Online Project Development Team.