sqe’ó:les

tear

Sqe’ó:les is the Halq’eméylem word for a ‘tear’. Literally it means ‘water of the eyes’.

Pronunciation

Sqe’ó:les sounds like skuh-ALL-us, except that:

• The q sound is similar to k, but you make the q further back, touching the back of your tongue to your uvula.
• Between the e and the o there is a catch in the throat (glottal stop) sound (..e’o…)

Note: the s- at the start pf sqe’ó:les is an optional noun marker. Many speakers just say qe’ó:les, with no s-. Both forms are ‘correct’.

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling, Elizabeth Phillips

Plural form form

If you want to talk about many tears, there is a special plural form you can use, like this sqelqel’ó:les (audio here).

Elders make this type of plural by partly doubling (‘reduplicating’) the first part of the word.

Related words

The root word for sqe’ó:les is qó: – water.

The -o:les ending means ‘of/on the eyes’, and this ending appears in many other words, for example:

• P’eq’ó:les – white eyes, cataract (p’eq’ means ‘white‘)
  

  cataract, have a cataract

• Tsmeth’ó:les – blue eyes (tsmeth’ means ‘blue’)
  

  blue eyes

• Skw’echó:steló:les – eyeglasses (literally ‘windows of the eyes’ suffix)
• St’elmexwó:les – eye medicine
• Kw’qwó:les – get hit in the eye