Half of a Yellow Sun: Chapters 4–10

by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
In 1967, the Republic of Biafra declared independence from Nigeria, leading to civil war. This novel traces the lives of several characters who get caught up in turmoil of the Biafran War.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–3, Chapters 4–10, Chapters 11–18, Chapters 19–24, Chapters 25–28, Chapters 29–37

Here are links to our lists for other works by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Americanah, Purple Hibiscus
15 words 36 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. ungainly
    difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape
    He, too, had started to like them, just as he liked the way she taught him to fry eggs with a little milk, to cut fried plantains in dainty circles rather than ungainly ovals, to steam moi-moi in aluminum cups rather than banana leaves.
  2. turgid
    abnormally swollen especially by fluids or gas
    Ugwu continued to slice, in a turgid silence, until Master came home, tennis whites plastered to his back with sweat.
  3. hamlet
    a community of people smaller than a village
    “I do not mind where the woman my son will marry comes from. I am not like those mothers who want to find wives for their sons only from their own hamlet. But I do not want a Wawa woman, and none of those Imo or Aro women, of course; their dialects are so strange I wonder who told them that we are all the same Igbo people.”
  4. crony
    a close friend or associate
    “I’ve decided to talk to Dr. Okoro about the Labor Strike. It’s unacceptable that Balewa and his cronies should completely reject their demands. Just unacceptable. We have to show support. We can’t allow ourselves to become disconnected.”
  5. petulant
    easily irritated or annoyed
    But she was upset, and made even more so by Odenigbo’s expression, as if he could not believe she was not quite as high-minded as he had thought. He was making her feel small and absurdly petulant and, worse yet, she suspected he was right.
  6. abstemious
    marked by temperance in indulgence
    “Are you coming to Daddy’s dinner party next week?” Kainene asked.
    “No.”
    “I should have guessed. Too opulent for your abstemious revolutionary and yourself, I take it?”
  7. blase
    nonchalantly unconcerned
    He laughed and said that to bring a child into this unjust world was an act of a blasé bourgeoisie anyway.
  8. voluble
    marked by a ready flow of speech
    He came inside and placed the suya on the table, and in his bloodshot eyes she glimpsed the vulnerability that hid itself so well underneath his voluble confidence.
  9. loath
    strongly opposed
    “He’s a classical music person but loath to admit it in public because it’s such a Western taste.”
  10. rapturous
    feeling great delight
    He went to his study and spread his manuscript pages out on the floor and looked at them: a few pages of a small-town novel, one chapter of the archaeologist novel, a few pages of rapturous descriptions of the bronzes.
  11. animism
    the doctrine that all natural objects have souls
    The humid South, on the other hand, was full of mosquitoes and animists and disparate tribes.
  12. coup
    a sudden and decisive change of government by force
    “There’s been a coup,” Master said, and gestured to the radio. “Major Nzeogwu is speaking from Kaduna.”
  13. tout
    someone who advertises for customers in a brazen way
    In the airport taxi, Arize taught Baby a song while Olanna watched Lagos careen by: the tumultuous traffic, the rusty buses and exhausted masses waiting for them, the touts, the beggars sliding on flat wooden trolleys, the shabby hawkers thrusting trays toward people who either would not or could not buy.
  14. insular
    suggestive of the isolated life of an island
    She did not know that things had come to this; in Nsukka, life was insular and the news was unreal, functioning only as fodder for the evening talk, for Odenigbo’s rants and impassioned articles.
  15. ingratiate
    gain favor with somebody by deliberate efforts
    “Daddy hasn’t wasted any time in ingratiating himself,” Kainene said in his ear.
Created on Wed Apr 10 17:49:21 EDT 2019 (updated Thu Aug 07 15:17:30 EDT 2025)

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