Yéqw means ‘to get burned (up)’. You could also translate it as ‘to burn’, but note that the subject is the thing that burns (not an agent who burns something else). For example, you could use yéqw in sentences like ‘It burned‘, or ‘The house burned (up)‘.
If you or another person burn something else, you would use a different verb: yéqwt (if you burned it on purpose) or yéqwlexw (if you accidentally burned it).
Pronunciation
- Yéqw sounds like YOOCK, except that instead of a k you say the Halq’emeylem q.
- To make the q, you touch your tongue back to your uvula.
- In this case, you also round your lips while you say the q (qw).
Audio: Elizabeth Herrling, Elizabeth Phillips
-ing form
Yéqw has a special ‘-ing‘ form, to describe an ongoing action, like this: héyeqw – (be) burning (audio here).
Note that the noun meaning ‘fire‘ is exactly the same: héyeqw. Literally, then a ‘fire‘ is ‘a burning‘ (though not in the sense of a burning ceremony, which uses a different word not covered here).
Related Words
Yéqw is also the root for a number of related words, including:
- yeqwíles – heart-burn (literally ‘burn in the chest’)
- yeqwí:l – electric light
- yeqwí:ls – to turn on a light
- Yeqwyeqwí:s – Yakweakwioose (name of a village, now Chilliwack Indian Reserve #9; the name meanings literally ‘clothes/covering burned many times’).
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