[càːl]

​be reflected in, e.g. `Abac is reflected in her daughter'.

Shilluk – 175,000 speakers – Sudan and South Sudan

This verb is similar to English resemble, except the way we interpret subject and object is reversed: the subject is the source of the resemblance, not the reflection.

This can be seen from the following example, where Abac is the subject.

ábác     ɲāaar-ɛ̄           á-càaal-ɛ̀ 
Abac    daughter-3S    PAST-be.reflected-3SG
'Abac is reflected in her daughter.'

As Fillmore (1977:74) said "Languages, and lexical items, differ in interesting ways in the options they present in taking particular perspectives on complex scenes."

Credit: Bert Remijsen and Otto Gwado Ayoker (field notes)

[nɑˈxletʃɑ]

Tear something open with the foot.

Lakhota – 6,000 speakers – USA (North and South Dakota)

Lakota verbs have obligatory prefixes that specify the body part or motion that is responsible for the action.

Source: Rising Voices (0:20:45), Robert Rankin. 2005. Quapaw. In Native languages of the Southeastern United States, 454-498. University of Nebraska Press.
​
​Credit: Steven Bird, David Rood

[ʃiːʃaːwiɬtaqjo]

Powered by a monstrous supernatural porcupine-like creature.

Nuu-chah-nulth, Nootka – 130 speakers, Canada (Vancouver Island)

This word is made from two parts:
šiˑšaˑwiˑɬ: supernatural porcupine-like creature.
-taqyo: powered by, having shamanistic power derived from.

Source: Nootka texts; tales and ethnological narratives (Edward Sapir and Morris Swadesh, 1978) pages 253, 283, 329 (https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/001009910)
Credit: Anthony Woodbury