Yorùbá Proverbs: Chickens

This proverb, one of the hundreds Yoruba’s have about chickens, tells us that the feathers of a chicken hides the fact that it sweats. This proverb helps us understand that what you see on the surface is not the complete story. A man drives who drives a nice car and wears expensive clothes might be [...]

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Weekly Òwe

Translation: It is not out of enjoyment that a woman says yes. This proverb highlights Yoruba culture about courting a woman. Men think that when a woman says “no” once, that just means he has to ask again, and again, and again until she finally agrees to go out with you or even marry you. [...]

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Weekly Òwe

3 or 4 friends are good enough. More than that and one will be bad. This is a warning to choose your friends wisely and not keep too many around. Yoruba people have a lot of acquaintances and can strike up a conversation with almost anyone, but they keep few best friends.

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Weekly Òwe

Without a reason, the revered father cannot get Gonorrhea because they are supposed to be abstinent. You use this proverb to explain that there is a good reason for something. You might be wearing a wool jacket during the summer and someone asks you ‘Why?!’ This proverb applies in that situation.

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Weekly Òwe

This proverb speaks about the importance of patience, a virtue sometimes hard to exercise in Nigeria, but very important nonetheless.

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Weekly Òwe

We learned this proverb on the first day of Yoruba class in Nigeria. It means we don’t make fun or abuse people to their face. It would be extremely rude to count a man’s 9 toes right in front of him. As we have been trekking through campus going from department to department on a [...]

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Weekly Òwé

I chose this proverb because our resident director, Moses, said it when we finally arrived in the Lagos airport. So you use it when, you have been working at something for a long time and you finally achieve it.

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Weekly Òwé

This proverb offers advice about personal grief. It means we have to deal with personal strife on our own. Even though friends and family are there to help us, in the end we have to overcome problems independently.

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Weekly Òwé

Proverbs are fundamental to the Yoruba language. Yoruba people use these poetic sayings –one or two lines of words– to convey a message with more meaning than a 30 minute conversation could accomplish. A proverb (òwé in Yoruba) can be used to give advice, give warning, express reproach or express compassion. Children start learning them [...]

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