About Kwaunobva.

Kwaunobva means where you come from. It began as an app for Shona speakers who wanted their own totem, a proverb's real meaning or a word's definition without a search engine guessing at it. This website publishes a large part of the same material so it can be read on any device and found by anyone looking.

These collections sit behind it: Duramazwi, the dictionary; Tsumo, proverbs with their meanings; Nyaudzosingwi, the ideophones; Mitupo, the totems with their clans and praise poems; Madimikira, the idioms; Ruzivo, customs and ceremonies; Zvirahwe, riddles; Ukama, kinship terms; Mutauro, grammar notes; Ngano, folktales; and Zviera, taboos.

Every record is written in Shona and glossed in English, not the other way round. A proverb keeps its Shona explanation as well as an English one, a praise poem is printed as verse, and a riddle holds its answer behind a tap the way a chirahwe is meant to be asked.

Entries are compiled from published Shona dictionaries, printed collections and cultural records. Every one of those works is credited by name below. Where a source is under copyright, the material here is either short factual word data or prose written afresh from a facts outline, never a reproduction. If you hold rights in material here and want it handled differently, write to us and we will act on it.

Kwaunobva is built by Invalcre (Pvt) Limited, which also makes Provisional Test Zimbabwe for learner drivers, Danho for ZIMSEC past papers and Bhaibheri for the Shona Bible, and publishes Denhe, a record of what Zimbabwe publishes.