K'kree Language

This language is primarily used by the K'kree race throughout the Two Thousand Worlds. It is also known as !Kee.

• It is a supercentral language.

All K'kree share a common language and culture, highly conservative and tradition-bound. The language is characteristic of the society it reflects; old, slow to change, and highly complex.

• K'kree Language, known as !Kee
• Raxkiir

Morphology

K'kree is an agglutinative language, where simple words are built together using suffixes or prefixes to create more complex ideas. The difference between nouns, adjectives, and adverbs is determined through pronunciation, or when written, through symbology.

The K'kree language has no word order requirements, the agglutinative language adds indicators of which nouns and verbs go together. Because of this, K'kree usually have words ordered in a manner which sounds best to the situation. For a calm discussion, words are ordered to sound more like the wind, whereas for a tense situation or one involving danger, words are ordered to produce more discordant sounds.

Written K'kree language

The K'kree written script is ideographic language, consisting of pictures. Like the spoken language, a number of base ideograms are combined to create more complex ideas. These ideograms were derived from much older hieroglyphs, becoming more stylized over time. Because of these changes, the original design of the hieroglyphs (and hence their meaning) has been lost, the ideograms are learned by rote.

Phonology

Because of certain physiological differences, humans are not capable of reproducing K'kree pronunciation exactly. As is noted, most sounds are more or less as in Anglic. ' indicates a glottal stop, while ! indicates a clicking sound, and !! a complex double click. ! is best simulated by clicking the tip of the tongue against the roof of the mouth, just behind the teeth. !! is approximated by clicking the back of the tongue against the soft palate.

The K'kree language has a smaller number of phonemes (word sounds) than Galanglic, but the K'kree supplement it with other sounds including sneezes, grunts, teeth grinding, belching and a number of smells. Each of these additional sounds or smells indicates emphasis or negation of one part of the word or sentence being spoken.

Lexicology

The K’kree language, like their society, is wrapped up in tradition to the point where it changes only imperceptibly over time. This has advantages; almost all K’kree speak the same language with virtually no cultural drift despite living on worlds dozens of parsecs apart. On the other hand, K’kree routinely use archaic phrases in a context that didn’t exist when the language was formulated, leading to sometimes clumsy and roundabout wording. The introduction of words from other languages is anathema to K’kree, no matter how much simpler the situation would be if they were adopted.

• ‘ak: Possessive pronoun, “of”, “‘s”. Placed between the owner and the thing that is owned. It doesn't indicate individual, but rather collective, ownership; the rare incidence of individual ownership is covered by r!

• ‘ri: “Leg”, “support”, or “tree”

• ‘rik’: To use one’s legs; “walk”, “move”, or “carry”

• ‘rr: Root word for “smell”, “sense”, or “feel”. It represents passive, not active use.

• ‘rraarr: “Smell”, also “apprehend”, “realize”, or “learn”

• ‘rraal!pim: “Bad smelling”

• ‘rraal!pim ‘xer’: Humans. Literally, “bad smelling two legs.”

• ‘rrukr’ni: "Where the Foreigners Smell". A facility set aside for private affairs of client races that K’Kree know are necessary but find unpleasant.

• ‘t: "More". In mathematics, it indicates each order of magnitude after the second.

• ‘xki’xkukt’xr: Major organizational unit, logistical fleet command

• !: Particle indicating alarm. Similar to Anglic uh.

• !!: "Talk" or "exchange thoughts". It derives from a pause to consider a matter, attended by popping berries against the roof of the mouth.

• !!luukir: "Gun". Literally, "converse with wind-carried death."

• !!xug'k: A narcotic, known as "Highleaf" to Humans.

• !bigr: “Remorseful”, “regrettable”

• !ku: “Scribe”, “recorder”, “one who remembers”. Onomatopoeic origin: the sound of chipping soapstone with a wooden chisel.

• !r: Modifier indicating singular. Thus, K'kree (a default plural) becomes K'kree!r. Unlike Galanglic, most basic K'kree words are group or plural forms.

• !xeng’ri: Literally, “Ummm, two legs!” Strangers, those living outside the Two Thousand Worlds. Implicitly, creatures to be suspicious of.

• !xexixexi: “Honour” or “reliability”; predictable weakness

A

• A: The most common K'kree vowel. It is present in many words indicating basic things. Its origin is a short gasp, the non-verbal expression of interest.

• Aa: An elongated a. Its use indicates a more challenging version of the humble pause for thought, so it often conveys a more complete or even metaphysical version of a basic concept.

• Akeet: "Dawn". See also, ur

• Akeet!! Xkuung: "Herd of the Dawn", the proto-K'kree prehistoric species

• Akeetra: Loosely, "bend the dawn", a star system in K'kree space (Ruupiin 3217)

• Aru: "Inverse"

• Aux!rraak G'Naak: "Probably Just Vermin"; K'kree raised outside of the herd by aliens.

• Axavktrr Xur: An untranslatable concept perhaps best rendered as "survival through extermination by right". A K'kree philosophical concept, the so-called "fundamental principles of survival" which calls for the eradication of all carnivorous lifeforms throughout the universe, and the ordering and retraining of herbivorous and omnivorous species under the direction of the K'kree. Though largely discredited by the K'kree defeat in the Hiver-K'kree War, it still claims many adherents.

• Axternachur: "Wall-bearers". In ancient times, the supports of a city wall, especially at the gates. In modern times, a term referring to career military K'kree.

B-F

• Cheer!: A leading female

Transforming "K" to "Ch" feminizes a concept, from the K’kree default masculine. Thus the lead female is cheer! from male keer! ("lord"), though the two are not equivalent because females don't actually carry rank.

• Eegur!gzeer: A euphemism for counter-raider; a type of fast pursuit ship

G

• G’: A prefix meaning "bad" or "threatening"

• G'irug: "Evil leaders"; non-K'kree who govern nations of aliens

• G'krurr: "Crazy", "lunatic". Literally, "bad-threatening lead."

• G'krurr!k'gzang!k: "Lunatic transforms to the divine". A gunboat design. "Gzang!k" is to transform through fire, i.e be cremated.

• G'r’: Hiver, literally, "bad legs." Non-Hiver xenolinguists like this word because it sounds like an appalled gasp.

• G'rraal!pim'ber: Aslan or Vargr. Literally, "malign, bad-smelling two legs." The K'kree tend not to distinguish between the two races. They are both bipedal meat-eaters, and thus disgusting and evil; nothing more need be said.

• Gaa'ak: Literally, "steaming blood", a reference to the sight and especially the smell of blood flowing from a freshly killed animal. Sometimes translated as "death".

• Ghi: "Front", "lead", "first"; the root word for "lord", "master", or "control."

• Ghia'karrim: Roughly "Founding Father." A term of respect among the K'kree, who regard ancestral steppelords with an almost religious awe.

• Ghik: "Steppe" or "prairie". The word carries the strong connotation of "open", "large", or "free."

• Ghik'keer!k: "Steppelord". Title indicating the K'kree ruling a herd. Also a term for the K'kree noble class.

• Ghik'keer!k'ak T’t’tkahk Xeng Kirr: Steppelord of the Two Thousand Worlds. Title indicating the ruling K'kree lord of the entire race. "Steppelord-(possessive-suffix) worlds two thousand."

• Ghikee: "Offshoot". Literally "what grows from the ground". Also a term for a male and one or more mates living as part of a larger herd.

• Ghir'ghik'keer!k: "Overlord of lords". K'kree title for the ruler of a number of herds within a given geographical area.

• Ghr'rr: A constellation seen from the homeworld of Kirur, named for a hero

• Gikhakh: A form of idiomatic writing

• Girug'kagh: "The Translators", literally "those who stand before the evil leaders". The name given to the most senior client race of the K'kree, essentially their majordomos.

• Gnak'kak: Roughly, "Whispers of Summer"

• Guraa: A written law known as the K'kree Law of Reason. It lays out the basic hierarchy of the K'kree caste system and discusses the xt'nir (rightness) for each. It unequivocally states that it is the destiny of the K'kree as a race to exterminate all carnivorous species across the universe wherever they might be found, and assume its place as lords (keer!) over the redesigned ecosystems.

• Guraa'khan: Roughly “Crusade of Reason-Proper Order-Rightness”. Originally, it referred to the First Crusade against the G'naak of Kirrixur. Difficult to translate, the concept suggests a campaign undertaken because the expected outcome is fundamental to the “rightness” of the universe. The word is now applied to any campaign against carnivorous species on worlds within the K'kree sphere.

• Gzang: “Fire”. Also, the K'kree sun.

• Gzang!k: “Funeral”. Literally, “completing fire”

K'kree cremate their dead. Most cultures apply devourer symbolism to fire: it consumes things, leaving nothing but ash. Clearly, the K'kree couldn't feed a dead relative to anything -- fire eating bodies would make fire evil -- so, for them, the fire transforms the corpse into something else, something spiritual. Fire as a thing which transforms is embedded at the core of K'kree belief systems. It predisposes them to accept major changes in spite of their preference for predictability.

• Gzang!k't't!g'naak: "A lot more fire than the g'naak can handle". The name of a class of military vehicle.

H-J

• Hk: The prefix which indicates that a numeric quantity is an integer. It isn't always used and could also mean "those that".

• Hkeegh'ri: Family. Literally, "breeding grass-eaters." From Hk-keegh'-ri, "those that grass-eat, breed"

• Hkooek' Xuruk: "Collective of herds in Hkooek’" or "Hkoeek' Empire", a small client state in Hkooek' Subsector of Nuughe Sector

• Hkur'ghe: 2.58 seconds. The time it takes for an unhurried K'kree to move forward one body length. Literally, "whole big lead." From Hk-kur’-ghe, "those that (being complete), lead"; ghe from ghi, “lead”.

• Irug: "Leader", specifically a non-K'kree. Obviously different from the right and proper leadership of a steppelord (which is ghi)

K

• K: Particle denoting totality

• K’: Particle denoting progress toward totality, unity, function, or enlargement.

• K'ghikre: Literally, "move toward one lord"; a hostel for the destitute.

• K'k: “Male”. The very word moves forward, from progress in the direction of utility to its achievement (k' followed by k)

• K’kaatu: 37 kritur; a tenth of a K'kree year. Literally, "a tenth of the big one."

• K’keeluuree: "Wind steppe runner"; the K'kree equivalent of an air/raft.

• K'kree: The People. Literally, "all the nobles", which extends to "all the nobles and all their retinues", or "the Great Herd." Note the overlap with k'k and reer, which gives the pun of "running males."

• K'kreer!: Modification of the plural "K'kree" to indicate a lone K'kree. (Uncommon)

• K'kriir!’: Literally, 'twisted wrong'. K'kree term for a sick or insane individual.

• K'krr: "Herd". The basic unit of all K'kree social orders.

• K'krurrin: 'Family council'; group of senior K'kree within a large herd which runs the family's affairs under the direction of the herd's lord.

• K'lao: A designation for an asteroid belt settled or exploited for the Herd, popularised by the Steppelords and nobles of X'kug Sector.

• K'lat'rr: Loosely translated, "rightness", "satisfying correctness".

• K'r: "Progress toward individuality": An ususual, unaligned K'kree-Human society (Star’s End 2340)

• K'rr: "Wholeness", "fitness", "contentment".

On the border between Tareeirii Subsector and T'ruxarruu Subsector, in the K'kree home territory of Ruupiin Sector, a cluster of systems are known to have been sterialised and interdicted. The naval base that coordinated this effort is named Kraknaaa K'rr, a bastion of "fitness" restored. In addition, a world in Nuughe Sector (Nuughe 0420) is simply named, K'rr.

• K'rrick'chr: Juveniles within a herd. Literally "of-the-females", a reference to the female role as child-carers. The implications of k'rr ("contentment, wholeness") are noteworthy; K'kree dote on children.

• Ka: "Ten", but with esoteric associations that are beyond Human comprehension and often including a feeling of sufficiency. See: Ka'ra Mandate

• Ka'keer'gheekr: “The Budding”; an agricultural term referring to new growth. Also the name of an elaborate ritual by which a male, his wives, and servants leave a herd and began a new and independent k'krr of their own. Note the roots of keer and ghee (ghi), recalling that the terms for lordship or high caste resemble those used for freedom on the steppe.

• Kaa'kr: The "well-born". The caste which includes craftsmen, merchants, and businessmen within K'kree society.

• Kagh: "Those who". This construction is used in the names of several K'kree client races, most prominently the Girug'kagh and the Rak'kagh. Not to be confused with the prefix Hk, "those that", which is for K'kree (being more suggestive of inherent unity, and thus correctness).

• Kagh'kir: K'kree name for Saviztah, the Girug'kagh homeworld. Literally, it means something like "them, their earth".

• Kahk'rik'kreng: Courier vessel. Literally, “Conveyance for ten poor nobles.”

• Kakaxxeer: A set of percussive drums designed to rest on a harness on the forward torso of the K’kree.

• Kala’: Storage place. Originally a bin for storage of grain, the word later came to mean exclusively a place where records were kept; a library.

• Kaxk: "Bearer". Name for those workers who wore elaborate harnesses in order to carry heavy loads. It came to be applied to those K’kree tasked with a special mission or responsibility.

• Ke: A blade of grass, and both or either of "insufficiency" and "promise".

• Kee: "Steppe", grass in a physical sense

• Keegh’: To eat grass

• Keek!kr: Pleasing effect from correct cause; If something is keek!kr, it flows from t'ok and t't'k -- position and order -- to the good of all.

• Keer!: "Lord"

• Ker: "Steppe", in a mystical sense.

• Khan'keer!: Roughly, "Lord of the Righteous Crusade". Generally translated as Warlord, a term for any powerful K'kree clan leader seeking to expand his herd's domain or exterminate threats to K'kree security (i.e., carnivores).

• Kiitunor: A class of armed trader

• Kir: "Earth", "soil", stuff with both living and dead in it and, therefore, the dead.

• Kirunika'rra: The military; "pest control", or killers of vermin. Literally, "enough to do the job of killing the abusers of earth." Note that here kir stands both for the action of killing and for the earth that is being abused. Note also that, to the K’kree, “abuses” doesn't hold any connotation of reverence for the earth. It simply means that someone other than them is enjoying possession of it.

Since K'kree don't war amongst themselves, with the only combat being occasional male dominance battles that never lead to death or serious injury, they have no sense of soldiers or warriors as others would understand it. The military, of which all male K'kree are part for some of their lives, exists for the single purpose of guarding against -- and preemptively killing -- predators (i.e. vermin). Hence, “pest control”.

• Kirloor: Gravitic technology. Literally, "earth drive."

• Kirloor'rik'rirr'gzang: "Earth drive carries lesser fire"; a drone fighter design

• Kirr: "Earth", etc., but with a suggestion of mystery.

• Kirrkruxughring: Loosely, "mysterious thinkers of the forest"; the K'kree name for the intelligent fungi of the Devi Intelligence.

• Kirur'xki!'xkllkl’xr: "Home Group"

• Kirur: The K'kree homeworld; literally "Big Soil"

• Kr: "All individuals" or "others."

• Kr'ach'achtrex: Armed scouts

• Kr'ach'trexixuur!trr: Light cruisers

• Kr'negrl: A K'kree equivalent of the Purple Heart, awarded for wounds in combat

• Kr'rrir: "Subjects", in the sense of people ruled. Literally, "all others, lesser".

• Kree: "Noble". The word's origin is a cry for attention.

• Kreng: A noble in distress or impoverished circumstances

• Kri Grak!r: "Protectors-not-of-the-herds"; alien mercenaries employed by K'kree

• Kril: "Long" (when referring to time), or "repeated".

• Kritur: A day. Literally, "dawn repeats".

• Krix'eeka: "Watch". A measurement of time, around seven hours.

• Krurrunak: Junior rank boss. This word is used to distinguish between differences in seniority between bosses.

• Krurr: "Foremost", "exposed", "leading". The Krurr'xki'xkukr' is the "Advance Group" of the military.

• Krurr'xki'xkukr’: "Advance(d) Group"

• Krurruna: Senior rank boss. The distinction between this, family head, and junior boss is a matter of context. Krurruna also denotes "family head", in much the same way as "captain" could, to Humans, be both the commander of a ship and a specific rank.

• Kruxugh’: Literally, "lead and think", a hero.

• Kruxugh'triilr'xr: "Hero Fleet"

• Kt!: An untranslatable expression of strong disgust

• Kt!! g'naak hkuu: There is no exact translation, but the meaning is approximately "you stink (think, behave) like a carnivore". This might be the most deadly insult in the !kee tongue.

• Kur’: Being complete, being whole, being big

L

• L'llurik: "Servants", the worker caste of K'kree culture.

• La: "Female"

• Lakrit: "Mother". Literally, "repeating female".

• Larirr: Young or unmarried female.

• Lat: "Family", "possessions", or "surroundings". Bear in mind that the K'kree are always surrounded by many of their kind. Whatever the view, a relative will usually be in the foreground.

• Lik'rrugukor: A type of monitor vessel

• Loor: "Drive" or "force".

• Loor'rik'k'ring'r!kir: "Carry the ring'r to make death". A class of armoured personnel carrier.

• Luretiir!girr: Very roughly, "the Scatterings". The word seemes to be derived from a K'kree agricultural term which refers to seeds planted in a field by scattering them on the wind. Luretiir!girr Sector lies between the sector of X'kug -- most of which is within the Two Thousand Worlds -- and the alien (mostly Human) nations of Gateway Sector.

• Lurkaang: Originally simple wicker barricades, but as cities became more permanent they eventually grew to be large, high-walled fortresses.

• Luu: "Wind" or "breath", moving air. Its origin is onomatopoeic.

• Luupim: "Evil Winds". The name of a planet.

M-N

• Naak: Vermin which endanger those who would trample them. An emphasised form of Nak ("vermin").

• Nagr: "Time", as in a particular era

• Nagr'axkiinak: The shadowed time of nightmare. One of the epic periods of remote K'kree history, referring to the time leading up to the genocidal war against the original G'naak. Also referred to as "the cloaked time", or "the time we do not think about", this period nevertheless left a deep impression on modern K'kree.

• Nagr'ika'rrgaa: The time of shed blood. The period mentioned in K'kree myth and legend when the herds first banded together to exterminate the original G'naak from Kirur.

• Nak: "Shades of the night", a reference to inhabitants of a K'kree shadow world which descended with the night to feed on the living. The word now refers to violent dreams or nightmares, especially those where the dreamer was fleeing a powerful and vicious pursuer. Also...

• Nak: "Vermin". Creatures that prey on other animals and eat meat; thus, creatures inherently wrong, without justification or value. See also, Naak.

• Naruch: Literally "wall", a defensive perimeter. Now referring to K'kree soldiers or herd security forces, the term probably dated to a time when young males guarded the nomad encampment at night.

• Ni: Particle indicating a person doing something. Loosely, "action".

• Niri: A designation commonly applied to water worlds by Steppelords and nobles of X'kug Sector.

• Nixir: 4.3 minutes. The average K'kree attention span. Etymologically, three particles, Ni, xi and r!, for "action, now, you!"

• Nuat: A designation used for examples of a certain type of interesting world, popularized in spinward Kilong Sector and trailing X'kug Sector

O-Q

• Pim: Spiritually bad, but not actively threatening.

• Pim!bigr: 368 days, a K'kree year. Literally, "remorseful, regrettable badness."

• Pkri!r: The mane of coarse, long hair which covers a K'kree's head, extending as a spinal ruff from neck to mid-torso. The cut and ornamentation of the mane defines a K'kree's status within the herd.

R

• R'keer: A time period, 43 minutes. Literally, "my own grass" and thus the average time it takes to eat a daily meal.

• R!: Possessive particle indicating ownership by one individual, or even individuality itself.

• R!ri: Translated as something akin to "breed alone"; a low-population colony world with no government (Gn’hk’r 1213)

• Rak'kagh: "The Ones Who Are Vigilant/Observant"; one of the client races of the K’kree

• Rak'keer!: "Eternal Vigilance" or "Everlasting Hour"; literally, something like "Lord of the aware time". This was the first recorded K'kree settlement; the K'kree calendar started with its foundation.

• Ree: "Run"

• Ri: "Breed". Probably related to ree; running into the future, forward progress

• Rik: "Carry"

• Ring: "Forest", "hedge", or -- figuratively -- lots of weapons.

• Ring!niker!kir: Robot fighters; note ring!, as these were designed to operate in swarms

• Ring'r: K'kree military platoon, consisting of 20 K'kree. Literally, "forest of legs", or "legs with polearms."

• Rirr'gzang: "Lesser Fire"

• Rr'cheer!: Herd mistress (literally, "Lord of the Females"). The senior female in a K'kree family unit, favoured wife of the steppelord.

• Rr'chkr: Adult females, or wives. K'kree culture acknowledges only juvenile females and married ones.

• Rr'xi: “Love”, “desire”. Note that xi is an emphatic particle. Note also the masculine slant to the language, as words for females (see above) align them with that which is desired.

• Rr'xighik'ker: Frigate. Literally, "lord who loves mystical steppes." Why this should suggest "small warship" to the K'kree is a mystery.

• Rrab!ak: "Uplift", the process of integrating a population into the Two Thousand Worlds

• Rrir: "Less", "lesser"

• Rrir'r'xi!xe'lee: "Little dutiful lover"

• Rruungakraa: The sense of actively working to provide a feeling of contentment.

• Ruu: "Harmony". A concept embodying the perfect order, under the principles of self-evident rightness (xt'nir) and reason (guraa). An idyllic picture of a universe where all carnivorous lifeforms had been eliminated, the omnivores had been retrained, and the K'kree ruled with dignity over a creation which had been refashioned along right and reasonable lines.

T

• T't: Verbalization of "order of magnitude"

• T'ok: "Position". An important concept, of being in the right place, conceptually.

• T't'k: "Order". T't'k proceeds from t'ok -- "position".

• T't'tkahk Xeng Kirr: Literally "Two Thousand Worlds", also translated as "creation", "night sky" or "universe". A complex K'kree term indicating the whole of creation as represented by all that could be seen. There is a deeper psychological meaning in the phrase stemming from the K'kree notion that they control all that they can see, i.e. the roughly two thousand stars that could be seen in Kirur's night sky. By literally translating this rather abstract meaning, "Two Thousand Worlds" came to refer to K'kree-dominated space, but by some translations it would cover all of the known universe.

• Tareririi: "Thirty". Also the name given to a neutron star -- an old supernova remnant -- at the heart of K'kree space, as well as the surrounding subsector. It was named because it broadcast 30 pulses a trakeek.

• Tra: To bend or straighten.

• Trakeek: A measure of time, corresponding to 25.8 seconds. Literally, "and the grass bent", the time it takes for a blade to take in its captured dew and return from a wilted to an upright position.

• Triirr'xr: Large, active unit or fleet.

• Trukr'x' Pekree: "Portable sky". A huge tent of heavy, environment-sealed ballistic cloth or armoured ceramic plates; a compromise between military necessity and K'kree claustrophobia.

U

• U: Particle indicating misuse

• Ukirr Gilti: "Honourable hostages". An impoverished noble pledging his and his family's service to a more important leader on a temporary basis. This is a curious mix of respectable service and disgrace. Note that Ukirr (u-kirr) gives a meaning like "misunderstanding of the earth's spiritual qualities", implying a tragic but not irredeemable blunder. Note too that "honourable" is a very rough translation, as !kee has no such concept.

• Ur: "Big", as in "expansive"; also, "dawn", the sun rising over the steppe

• Ur'ghe (ur'ghi): "Big lead"

• Ur'traa l' Gnur: The Fearful Time. The brief period from about K'kree year 3200 to 3220, during which time the K'kree, driven by fear of the Kirrixurian G'naak, solved the secrets of fusion power and grav drive. It ended with the invasion of Kirrixur and the destruction of the G'naak. Note that ur'traa means something like "big (metaphysical) bend".

• Uurr’: "Guts", "intestines"

• Uurr'loorr: "Gut booster"; a muscle group

X

• Xaar: "Thunder". Specifically, the thundering sound of large numbers of K'kree on the move; hence, the word is generally used to mean power, especially power over non-K'kree governments or species.

• Xaar’keer!: "Lords of Thunder". Term given to a militant alliance of K'kree warlords known for their adherence to the precepts of Axavktrr xur, the right of the K'kree to survival through the genocide of alien species.

• Xagha: Literally "refreshment." In ancient times, a defended place on the route of march where a K'kree herd would stop for a time for rest. In time, the word took on the meaning of a place of spiritual refreshment, and referred to a kind of portable enclosure set up within the camp. Carrying definite religious connotations, the xagha has been called a 'temple camp' by Human authorities. Artifacts, weapons, and writings -- links with K'kree history -- are displayed within the temple as reminders of the K'kree way and destiny.

• Xe'lee: To be dutiful

• Xee: To choose between options

• Xeekr'kir!: Merchant vessel. Literally, "chooser between mysterious soils."

• Xeng: “Two”. Possibly related to xe'lee and xee.

• Xi: A particle used for emphasis

• Xi Rrikeek Tuughit'ra: "Extirpation of Predators"

• Xrak: Archaic K'kree polearm, measuring approximately three metres in length and mounting both a spear point and a curved chopping blade. Originally developed to fight carnivorous predators on Kirur, it is now a traditional weapon carried for ceremonial or ritual purposes.

• Xt'neer: "Rightness of place." K'kree word for the caste system which defines each K'kree's place in his or her herd.

• Xt'nir: "Rightness". Specifically, that which is self-evidently right, with no need for explanation or reason.

• Xtengir: The first steppelord civilization. Named for the Xtengir Uplands of Kirur.

• Xugh’: "Thought"

• Xuruk: Herd collective, consisting of several herds in a given geographical area, ruled by a Ghik'keerk (steppelord). Xuruk are the basis for K'kree cities, merchant guilds, and industrial collectives. Also applied to the herds which might dominate several worlds.

• Xuruk'xaar'keer!: The Collective of the Lords of Thunder; a miltant K'kree-dominated empire lying outside the recognized boundaries of the Two Thousand Worlds.

• Xurxeer!k: A collective of xuruk, usually within a single area. The Human equivalent would be a country, but in K'kree terms a better designation would be a group of cities, and it carries the notation of a number of cities related by trade routes and products. It could also be applied to several interrelated industries: mines, transport systems, and steel mills, for example. In common usage, it could mean an interstellar empire of many worlds,

See also !Kee Dictionary

G'naak

G'naak is a K'kree word usually translated as meat-eater or carnivore, though it has, in fact, a wide range of associated meanings. The word is closely related to both nak (literally "shades of the night", probably a violent dream or nightmare) and gaa'ak (literally "steaming blood", and usually translated as death), and might be a deliberate composite of the two -- a nightmare of death and hot blood. No K'kree can say or hear the word without a measure of deep-seated, psychological revulsion. Use of the word in the various K'kree dialects could reflect different meanings, depending on usage and situation. G'naak, in K’kree usage, could refer to any of the following:

• Any carnivore. The term is applied to all of the carnivorous species encountered, sentient or otherwise.

• An expression of extreme distaste, actually an insult. It is never directed against other K'kree but is reserved for other species (such as Humans) with questionable (i.e., meat-eating) habits.

• A term denoting blood and death, with a K'kree concept which might be translated as "hell."

• The K'kree bogeymen of their early history, presumably a technic civilization native to or dwelling on Kirur's moon, now extinct.

Put together, then, g'naak means something like "horrible, nightmarish, verminous meat-eating monsters".

Historical linguistics

Evolving on the open grassland, K'kree never adopted a vertical symbolism -- being above one another -- instead seeing their society as a wedge, with the patriarch at the front, followed by his warriors, with his dependents safe at the rear. As there was always a race to be run, either toward new food or driving off an enemy, the K'kree saw themselves as charging at problems, running into the future. This image is maintained in the customary salutations from an underling to a Krurruna:

• "May your mane stream and the ground shudder"
• "My only wish is to be lashed by your tail"
• "May I follow where you have tread"

Worlds & Sectors (Astrography)

This language is primarily in use in the following areas:

• Two Thousand Worlds

References and contributors

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Far Future Enterprises or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• J. Andrew Keith, Loren Wiseman. K'kree (Game Designers Workshop, 1984), —.
• Joe Fugate. MegaTraveller Journal 4 (Digest Group Publications, 1993), 55.
• Steve Jackson, Loren Wiseman. Alien Races 4 (Steve Jackson Games, 2001), —.