Kwaunobva
Rediscover Shona heritage through totems, practices, and proverbs.
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Kwaunobva means where you come from. It is a Shona heritage reference from Zimbabwe, on the web and in an app for Android and iPhone, for Shona speakers who want their own totem, a proverb's real meaning or a word's definition without a search engine guessing at it.
It gathers eleven collections: a Shona dictionary that works both ways, proverbs with their meanings, totems with their clans and praise poems, riddles, idioms, ideophones, customs and ceremonies, kinship terms, grammar notes, folktales and taboos. Every record is written in Shona and glossed in English, not the other way round.
The app holds every entry on the phone, so it reads the same in a kombi, at a rural home or on an aeroplane. Pick your totem and clan once and it greets you by your praise name. Riddles keep their answers behind a tap, and any record can be sent to family as a card.
- Shona speakers looking up their own totem and praise poem
- Anyone learning Shona who needs a dictionary that works both ways
- Readers who want a proverb, idiom or custom explained in Shona and English
- People reading without data, in a kombi or at a rural home
Look up a Shona word or an English one, with the Shona explanation and example sentences kept.
Each proverb carries what it means and when it is said, in Shona and in English, grouped by what it is for.
Sixty totems with their clans, their regions and the full praise poem for each house.
Riddles hold their answers behind a tap. Type a guess and the app accepts the spellings a Shona speaker would.
Roora, kurova guva, nhimbe and more, read as a story or a page.
Search in Shona or English across the dictionary, proverbs, totems, riddles, idioms and customs, then filter to one collection.
Is Kwaunobva free?
Yes. The website is free to read, and the app is free on Google Play and the App Store, with no account, no adverts and nothing to subscribe to.
Does the app work offline?
Yes. Everything ships inside the app, so once it is downloaded it works with the phone in flight mode.
What does Kwaunobva mean?
Kwaunobva is Shona for where you come from.
Is it written in Shona or English?
Shona first. Every record is written in Shona and glossed in English, and a proverb keeps its Shona explanation as well as an English one.
What is the difference between the website and the app?
The website publishes a large part of the same material so it can be read on any device. The app carries the full dictionary, every proverb, all sixty totems and the riddles offline, and remembers your totem.
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