TerraverbaAn atlas of the world’s languages 简体中文 Open the atlas

Luo

Luo is a Nilotic language spoken in Kenya and Tanzania, by about 3 million people.

See it on the globeOpen in the family tree

Luo · 0.9°S 34.5°E

Dholuo (pronounced [d̪ólúô]) or Nilotic Kavirondo, is a dialect of the Luo group of Nilotic languages, spoken by about 4.2 million Luo people of Kenya and Tanzania, who occupy parts of the eastern shore of Nam Lolwe (Lake Victoria) and areas to the south. It is used in broadcasts on Ramogi TV and KBC (Kenya Broadcasting Corporation, formerly the Voice of Kenya).

Dholuo is mutually intelligible with the Acholi, Alur and Adhola languages of Uganda. Dholuo and the aforementioned Uganda languages are all linguistically related to Dholuo of South Sudan and Anuak of Ethiopia due to common ethnic origins of the larger Luo peoples who speak Luo languages.

Four primary Dholuo dialects exist. These do not have their own names but are purely geographical; northwestern, south-central, east-central, and south. All dialects are highly mutually intelligible, and mainly differ in lexis.

From Wikipedia · Dholuo · CC BY-SA 4.0

Words in Luo

MeaningWordRomanization
mothermama
fatherbaba
childnyithindo
womandhako
personng'ato
eyewang'
noseum
toothlak
tonguelep
headwich
bonechogo
waterpi
starsulwe
fishrech
cowdhiang'
threeadek
eatchamo
hellomsawa
thank youerokamano
yesee
I love youaheri
houseot

Most similar languages

Vocabulary

Grammar

Vocabulary compares 40 basic words (ASJP); grammar compares 195 features (Grambank). Similar is not always related.

Nearby languages

Elsewhere

Something wrong here? Tell us

Glottolog · luok1236 · Wikipedia (English) · Ethnologue · luo