méle

Méle means literally ‘child’‘. You use méle to refer to people’s family members, not just any young person. (As a general term for any ‘young person’, regardless of whose child they are, you can use a different word: stá:xwelh – child for any young person.)

Pronunciation

Méle sounds like this: MILL-uh

Audio: Elizabeth Herrling, Elizabeth Phillips

Plural form

Méle has a special plural form, like this: mámele – children (audio here).

Elders make this kind of plural by partly doubling (reduplicating) the first part of the word, in this case together with a vowel change.