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Navajo Word of the Day: Native American

3,060 views · Published 5 November 2012 · 1:03 · Indexed 21 October 2026

Channel: daybreakwarrior · 2012 · People & Blogs

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I had the honor of having Richard "Rick" Mora help me with today's Navajo Word of the Day, "Native American." To say "Native American," you say "Bitsi' Yishtłizhii." Rick Mora is a star from the Twilight Saga, in which he plays the Quileute Chief Ephraim Black in one of the flashback scenes. He's also a model, musician, photographer, producer, as well as being an actor. Mora is part Yaqui and Apache.

Since November is Native American Heritage month, I decided to share the word Native American in Navajo. The word literally means "bruised skin" for darker skin but means Native American. The breakdown:

Bitsi': his/her skin (literally flesh)
Yishtłizhii: the one that's bruised (dark)

To use it in a sentence, you can say, "Bitsi̜ Yishtłizhii jilí̜i̜go chánah ídlí̜," which means, "Proud to be Native American." The breakdown is:

Bitsi̜ Yishtłizhii: Native American
Jilí̜i̜go: being one
Chánah: encouraging
Ídlí̜: it is

I met Mora at Long Beach Comicon, in Los Angeles, CA.

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