making inyanga flaunting or showing off.
markets Igbo weeks are four days long, and the market day is on the first of day each week; therefore, three or four markets is a period of twelve to sixteen days.
Mbaino This community name means four settlements.
Mbanta The name means small town and is where Okonkwo's mother comes from, his motherland, beyond the borders of Mbaino (Ikemefuna's original home).
monkey tricks possibly a racial slur directed at the natives.
ndichie elders.
the new dispensation the new system; the new organization of society under British influence.
Nna-ayi translated as our father; a greeting of respect.
nso-ani a sin against the earth goddess, Ani.
the nuts of the water of heaven hailstones.
nza a small but aggressive bird.
obi a hut within a compound.
ogbanje a child possessed by an evil spirit that leaves the child's body upon death only to enter into the mother's womb to be reborn again within the next child's body.
Ogbuefi a person with a high title, as in Ogbuefi Ezeugo (the orator) and Ogbuefi Udo (the man whose wife was killed in Mbaino).
ogene a gong.
ogwu medicine, magic.
Okonkwo The name implies male pride and stubbornness.
Okoye an everyman name comparable to John Doe in English. Okoye represents all the people to whom Unoka owes money.
Oracle the place where, or medium by which, the deities are consulted; here, the Oracle of the Hills and the Caves.
ostracize to banish, bar, exclude, etc. from a group through rejection by general consent of the members.
osu a class of people in Igbo culture considered outcasts, not fit to associate with free-born members of the clan.
Osugo The name means a low-ranked person.
ozo a class of men holding an ozo title; it also refers to the ritual which accompanies the granting of a title to a person.
