Igbo Proverbs, Idioms and Parables
Igbo Proverbs, Idioms and Parables
Professor Albert Chinualumogu Achebe, one of the prominent sons of Igboland once defined proverbs (ilu) as “the salt with which words are eaten”. Proverbs are the wisdom of a people in a nutshell. Complex stories and situations are concentrated in a few words and phrases which capture and retain the essential meaning of the experiences from which they derive.
Hence, the compulsory use of Igbo proverbs (ilu), parables (ukabuilu) and idioms (akpaalaokwu), in every traditional setting has elevated the language to the status of a living art of popular communication.
Igbo language has several “dialects.” As a result, many of us may not immediately understand the meaning of proverbs owing to the perhaps strange dialect of words therein contained. As we become more acquainted with these dialects, we begin to appreciate our total inheritance as Igbo language speakers.
Reciting proverbs is as effective as not using them. Beyond the usual recitation, it is important to always know the appropriate event and time to use Igbo proverbs in order to communicate the appropriate message and achieve the desired result.
Below are some of the popular Igbo proverbs:
Igbo Proverb
- Uraga-eju onye nwuru anwu afo.
- Gidigidi bụ ugwu eze.
- Chọọ ewu ojii ka chi dị.
- Otu onye tuo izu, o gbue ọchụ.
- Ihe ọma hụrụ gbaa ọsọ ka ọkụkụ hụrụ na-atọ ọnụ.
- Oge anaghị eche mmadụ.
- E lee ukwu egbue ewu.
- Ebe onye dara ka chi ya kwaturu ya.
- Ihe di woro ogori azuala na ahia.
- Ewu nwuru n'oba ji abughi agu gburu ya.
- A na m kamịrị isi were baa n'opi ugbo guru?
- A chuo aja ma a hughi udele, a marana ihe mere bendimmuo.
- Si kele onye ntị chiri; enu anughi, ala anu.
- Nwunye awo sina di ato ka uto, ya jiri nutankeya kwuru yan'azu.
- Ugo charaa cha adi (ghi) echuechu.
- Onye ubi amadi (ghi) aza "Omeokachie."
- Ezembe sina olu oha di mma, mana oriri oha aka ahu.
- Ezembe sina ihe yaji achiri ihe egwu yaa ganjembum aka ya ezundiegwu.
- Nwaanyị muta ite mmiri mmiri, di ya amuta iputa aka were suru ofe.
- O na-abu a sinwa tawu ba ahu, o saba afo ya.
- Akwụkwọ juru n'ohia, ma a baa a choba okazi.
- Agwo anaghị eke o jiri buru agwo umuaka achiri ya n’ike.
- Ukpa lagba baran'i kpọọ ukọ na-ala ala mmuo.
- Onye a kpọrọ apari, o na-ehin'amanna ya, abughi apari.
- Ndina e jempo si abalina ahu ukpana ndimmuo.
- Nwa tabuni enna ya enu, akpa amuya ayochie ya anya.
- Onye hapu onu ya, uguru ara cha ya.
- Olukosi na ihe yaji ele anya n'enu ma yana ụmụ mmiri buru ahịhịa na-egbusi n'igwe abia.
- Ijiji na-enweghi onye ndumodu na-eso ozu ala n'inyi.
- "Nwunyeanyi, nwunyeanyi"; kandeli biaka anyi mara onye o bunwunye ya.
- Ula towa uto, ekwo we ya ekwowe.
- O bialu be onye abiagbunaya, mgbe o ga-alamkpọm kpọpụ ya kpọọ ya n'azu.
- Nwa oyuna eto, o di ka o ga-aka nne ya.
- Okukona aro goro ite onu, chetekwe mmagburụ ya.
- Iheka ntebata n’onunte, nteetefu.
- Uzuna ama aghi akpu ogene lee egbe anya n’odu.
- Oke osisi mmiri anaghị atụgharị onye obulanke o na-ahughi ukwu ya anya.
- Onye buru chi ya uzo, o gbagbu onwe ya n’oso.
- Okuko nyuo ahu, ana achu waya oso.
- Okwu anaghị ami rio te ofe.
- Mmiriri renyi kamberu na-awa ogodo; o ga-efemmiri aefeka o ga-awu ya awu?
- Ohia woro ọgụ, sere gionu.
- O bụrụ na ebi e nwee mgburu atu, ya biakwa ma atu zogbue o lio ene.
- O bulu na i taa m aru ike, ma i zeghi nshi, mu taa gi aru n’isi, agaghi m ezere uvu.
- Okuko m manya egbu ahu beghi mmanwu la ara na-ayi.
- Nwaanyị anaghị eje ije na nwunye di ya kwere ya ekene ko makpo waya ogo.
- Onye si na ya anaghị ata anụ nkita, ya arakwa mmi rio feya.
- A tuo roo mara, o mara, a tuo roo feke, o fenye isi n’ohia.
- A tuoroomara, o mara, a tuoroofeke, o fenyeishin'ohia.
Meaning(Literal)
A dead person shall have all the sleep necessary.
Unity is strength
Make hay while the sun shines.
Knowledge is never complete: two heads are better than one.
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
Time and tide wait for nobody.
A buxom waist that makes her man(husband) kill a goat for her when he looks at it.
Where one falls is where his god pushed him down.
What was secret is revealed in the market place.
A goat that dies in a barn was never killed by hunger.
Who knows how water entered into the stalk of the pumpkin?
If the vulture fails to hover at the end of a sacrifice, then you know that something happened in the land of spirits.
Salute the deaf; if the heavens don't hear, the earth will hear.
The female toad said that husband is so sweet that when she got married, she carried her husband permanently on the back.
A mature eagle feather will ever remain pure.
An indigent does not take the title of "Omeokachie" (i.e. one who completes whatever he puts his hand to)
The tortoise said that many hands at work is enjoyable, but many mouths to feed can be embarrassing.
The tortoise said that it always travels with its musical instrument in case it meets other musicians.
If a woman decides to make the soup watery, the husband will learn to dent the Garri before dipping it into the soup.
Tell a child to wash his body, he washes his stomach.
There are various leaves in the bush, but people go in to look for okazi leaves.
If a snake fails to show its venom, little kids will use it in tying firewood.
The grasshopper that runs into the mist of fowls ends up in the land of spirits.
A presumed fool who sleeps in his father's house is not a fool.
Those who defecate at night see the ghost grasshopper.
If a child lifts his father, his scrotum will blindfold him.
If one fails to lick his lips, the harmattan will do it.
The chicken says it looks up when drinking water because what kills it comes from the sky.
A fly that has no counselor follows the corpse to the grave.
"Our wife, our wife": come midnight and we will know whose wife she really is.
When sleep becomes enjoyable, we snore.
May one's visitor not constitute a problem, so that on his departure he will not leave with a hunchback.
When the baby wren is growing, it looks like it would be bigger than its mother.
The chicken frowns at the cooking pot, ignoring the knife that killed it.
When something greater than the pigmy cricket enters its hole, it takes off.
The blacksmith who does know how to forge a metal gong should look at the tail of a kite.
The ocean never swallows a person with whose leg it does not come in contact.
He who walks before his godly guardian does the race of his life
When the fowl farts, the ground becomes a nuisance.
A master chef is not blessed with a good harvest of okra.
The tortoise gears up to besides a river that swallowed an elephant: is it going to fly over this river or just jump over?
The forest that denies you firewood has massaged your neck.
He who calls whenever Elder Ene kills a deer, let him call if the deer kicks the living daylight out of Elder Ene.
If you bite me on the butt, despite the danger of sinking your teeth into fecal matter, then if I bite you on the head, I will disregard the danger of sinking my teeth into cerebral matter.
A drunken fowl has not met a mad fox.
A woman does not regard her sister-wife as sister-in-law just because she (her husband's other wife) accepted her greeting gracefully.
He who abhors dog meat should not eat dog-meat soup.
If you tell a wise one, he understands; tell a dunce, he runs into the bush.