s’íth’em

S’íth’em means ‘dress, gown, clothing, what you wear’. You can use it for any kind of clothes, but it is especially appropriate for traditional First Nations dress and regalia.

S’íth’em overlaps in meaning with á:wkw’, but you use s’íth’em only for clothes (where á:wkw’ covers both clothes and household belongings like tools)

Pronunciation

S’íth’em sounds like this: SEE-tsumm (some speakers say SEE-t-thum), except that there are two  ‘glottal stops‘ (catches in the throat), marked by the apostrophes.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling, Elizabeth Phillips