Friday, May 29, 2015

I learned that the word "clever" from a Haitian dictionary means "madre", which I never heard before, but I know it means "malen" as well. I also just learned from your previous post that "clever" also means "je kale". What do you think of them and what are other words for "clever"? Also, what are specific words for "cleverness" and "smartness" respectively?

All these Creole words you cited are synonymous to the word clever, but they have different meanings.
One can be clever as in resourceful, or clever as in cunning, or clever as in  wise.

So if you were an interpreter and someone asked you to translate the word clever, you should ask for the context first.

All the following H. Creole words can translate the English word clever
madre, mètdam, malen, rize can mean cunning, sly, crafty, etc...
debouya, degajanresourceful
entelijan, eklere, maton, fò - smart
etc...

Haitian Creole ↔ English Reference, Look up Haitian Creole and English Words

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