th’ó:kws

seven

Th’o:kws is the Halq’eméylem word for the number ‘seven’. There are specific words for counting certain objects (people, trees, canoes, etc.), but th’o:kws is the general word for ‘seven’….

Pronunciation

• Th’o:kws sounds like TSSOKS, except that there is a catch-in-the-throat (glottal stop) sound after the first ts.
• Some elders say the first sound like T-TH, i.e. a t followed by a th sound. However, many elders just pronounce the first sound as ts.

Audio: Rosaleen George

Related words

A number of other words are related to th’ó:kws, including these examples:

• Th’ekwsále – seven, for counting people (The ending –íle, or variants –ále or –éle, appear on many of the numbers for counting people.)
• Th’okwsōwelh – seven canoes (The ending –ōwelh appears on many words related to canoes.)
• Th’ókwses – seven dollars (The –es ending appears on many words for dollars.)