The Master Conlanging Word List

Table of Contents (Control F)
THE ORIGINAL SWADESH LIST (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swadesh_list)
Swadesh SOPHOMORE LIST (From The Language Construction Kit by Mark Rosenfelder)
THE MODERN WORLD (From The Language Construction Kit by Mark Rosenfelder)
GEOGRAPHICAL TERMS (From The Language Construction Kit by Mark Rosenfelder)
FANTASY FREQUENCY WORDLIST (From Conlanger's Lexipedia  by Mark Rosenfelder)
625 CONTENT WORDS (from The Snowball Game here: http://aveneca.com/cbb/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=2590 )
THE LEIPZIG-JAKARTA LIST ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leipzig%E2%80%93Jakarta_list)
ETYMOLOGICAL FREQUENCY LIST (From Conlanger's Lexipedia by Mark Rosenfelder)
=============================
The Original Swadesh List
Adjectives
Numbers	one	two	three	four
Colors	black	white	red	green	yellow
Oppositions	good	bad
	new	old
	warm	cold
	dry	wet
	sharp	dull
	near	far
	big	small
	long	short
	wide	narrow
	thick	thin
	fat	heavy
	left	right
	few	many
	some	all
Miscellaneous	dirty	correct	rotten	smooth	straight	other
Nouns
Substances	earth	water	ice	stone	fire	ashes	smoke	dust	salt	sand
Time	day	night	year
Weather	rain	snow	cloud	fog	wind
The Sky	sky	sun	moon	star
Geographical	mountain	woods	lake	river	sea	road
Body parts	head	neck	back	belly	hand	leg	foot
The Head	ear	eye	hair	mouth	nose	tongue	tooth
Internal	blood	bones	guts	heart	liver	meat
Animals	animal	bird	dog	fish	louse	snake	worm	tail
Bird-related	egg	feather	wing
Plants	tree	flower	fruit	grass	leaf	bark	seed	stick	root
People	person	man	woman	child
Family	father	mother	wife	husband
Miscellaneous	fear	name	rope
Verbs
Life and Death	live	die	kill	sleep
Movement	come	walk	float	fly	swim	turn
Body Position	stand	sit	lie (down)	fall
Eating	eat	drink	bite	blow	breathe	suck	vomit
Perception	see	hear	smell
Cognition	know	think
Speech acts	say	sing	laugh	count
Daily life	play	hunt	sew	throw	wash	wipe
Conflict	fight	hit
Tool usage	cut	stab	tie	dig
Manipulation	hold	give	push	pull	rub	scratch
Physical states		burn	flow	freeze	split	swell
Grammatical Words
Conjunctions		and	because	if	not
Prepositions		at	in	with
Personal pronouns		i	thou	he	we	you(pl.)	they
Demonstratives		this	that
Locatives		here	there
Question words		how	what	when	where	who
===========================================
Sophomore list
The Swadesh list won’t get you far; but add these additional 350 words and you’ll be able to communicate surprisingly well. I’ve placed modern technology in another list, since it may be irrelevant if you’re creating a language for a fantasy or alien world.
Adjectives
Numbers
zero
half
quarter
(and of course six and up)
Colors
blue
brown
dark
light
Oppositions
beautiful
ugly
fast
slow
first
last
hard
soft
full
empty
smart
stupid
real
fake
upper
lower
expensive
cheap
sweet
sour
strong
weak
different
same
Swadesh forgot...
young
hot
clean
wrong
rough
crooked
Emotions
glad
happy
sad
tired
angry
crazy
Character
careful
lucky
smart
wise
foolish
healthy
sick
Value
important
interesting
boring
wonderful
strange
Abstractions
funny
easy
difficult
alone
free
normal
special
probable
secret
Nouns
Natural
substances
air
glass
iron
gold
silver
Territory
nature
world
land
Time
week
month
yesterday
today
tomorrow
morning
afternoon
The
seasons
spring
summer
fall
winter
Geographical
hill
farm
field
island
Body
parts
body
lip
breast
butt
muscle
brain
Animals
cat
cow
chicken
horse
pig
mouse
monkey
lion
bird
fish
bug
Plants
grain
bread
branch
People
girl
boy
girlfriend
boyfriend
friend
baby
Family
family
sister
brother
son
daughter
Hierarchy
king
boss
leader
servant
Religion
god
devil
temple
holy
evil
soul
sin
Settlements
city
street
tavern
Houses
house
room
wall
window
door
Furniture
table
chair
bed
corner
School
school
university
class
lesson
teacher
test
Dining
food
lunch
dinner
wine
milk
Clothing
clothes
pants
dress
shoe
hat
Technology
machine
tool
boat
clock
key
net
wagon
wheel
wire
Containers
box
bag
bottle
cup
plate
knife
Avocations
music
art
science
vacation
picture
game
Language
language
word
book
pen
paper
page
Abstract
thought
idea
message
story
symbol
example
part
number
manner
group
thing
Analysis
system
list
event
reason
fact
space
time
map
Money
money
price
worth
debt
shop
Respect
honor
shame
Politics
war
peace
sword
government
law
council
tax
prison
minister
Verbs
Life
and
death
be
seem
born
Everyday
actions
work
wake
dream
cook
use
grow
Writing
write
read
translate
create
study
learn
copy
Affection
love
hate
like
care
want
wish
marry
Knowledge
understand
believe
doubt
expect
remember
forget
Emotions
hope
worry
regret
surprise
Modals
can
must
should
Aspect
begin
finish
intend
to
do
habitually
do
Abstractions
cause
mean
measure
place
Shapes
square
circle
line
edge
side
Perception
touch
taste
Speech
acts
answer
ask
thank
greet
lie
joke
call
offer
choose
Movement
leave
go
follow
hide
run
roll
Bodily
actions
dance
kiss
smile
cry
point
Conflict
annoy
hurt
crime
destroy
trick
Society
allow
meet
help
Manipulation
put
take
have
build
fold
add
Acquisition
buy
sell
need
get
lose
search
find
trade
keep
Containers
open
close
cover
Grammatical
words
Conjunctions
but
or
though
until
Prepositions
toward
for
without
against
on
about
behind
across
over
under
Adverbs
perhaps
indeed
thus
Time
now
then
again
next
Degree
very
too
enough
Courtesy
please
thank you
you’re welcome
welcome
to
—
hello
goodbye
yes
============================

The Modern World
In addition to the words listed, think about days of the week, months of the year, and the names of countries and cities.
Air
transport
airplane
airport
Cars
car
bus
license
gas
station
motor
taxi
truck
gasoline
Other
transport
bicycle
railroad
train
station
subway
spaceship
Computers
computer
CD-ROM
chip
CPU
Accessories
floppy
disk
hard
drive
modem
keyboard
mouse
monitor
Programs
program
video
game
word
processor
compiler
Internet
Internet
e-mail
bulletin
board
chatroom
web
website
download
browser
blog
post
flame
lurker
newbie
chat
Disciplines
physics
chemistry
biology
electricity
magnetism
Physics
atom
molecule
energy
nuclear
particle
photon
Biology
cell
evolution
gene
Substances
plastic
Appliances
stove
sink
dishwasher
refrigerator
washing
machine
dryer
furnace
air
conditioner
Film
camera
film
photo
movie
animation
theater
Recording
CD
record
tape
videotape
stereo
VCR
tape
recorder
Weaponry
gun
rifle
tank
infantry
cavalry
artillery
bomb
Office
technology
fax
copier
typewriter
Media
newspaper
magazine
telephone
television
radio
comic
strip
Other
technology
elevator
laser
light
bulb
watch
Optics
lens
telescope
microscope
glasses
Measures
pound
foot
mile
ounce
cup
gram
kilogram
meter
kilometer
milliliter
liter
Lifestyle
lifestyle
ATM
suburb
Jobs
secretary
babysitter
bureaucrat
manager
Education
college
university
degree
Economy
economy
banknote
credit
card
dollar
euro
expenses
income
inflation
standard
of
living
unemployed
union
welfare
yen
Avocations
chess
rock
soccer
cigarette
drugs
Clothing
bikini
bra
jeans
T-shirt
lipstick
Health
AIDS
allergy
addict
antibiotic
bacteria
vaccine
virus
vitamin
Food
candy
hamburger
hot
dog
pizza
sushi
taco
tofu
tomato
Belief
systems
communism
socialism
fascism
republic
democracy
Green
human
rights
liberal
conservative
Positions
president
prime
minister
representative
parliament
council
Religions
Islam
Judaism
Christianity
Hinduism
Buddhism

Geographical terms
These are words useful for creating maps. We start with geographical terms, which are not only useful for labeling your map in your own language (Zëi Mišicama instead of ‘Mišicama Ocean’), but to name cities and regions (‘Great Mountain, Seatown, Yellow River, Clear Lake, Ox Pond, Deer Crossing’, etc.). Indeed, some towns are nothing but one of these terms (Detroit = ‘Straits’; Le Havre = ‘the Port’; Ostrov = ‘Island’). One of the most popular names for cities is ‘New town’, which is the meaning of Newton, Neustadt, Neuveville, Naples, Nyborg, Novgorod, Villanueva, Yenişehir, and Xīnchéng.
Other ideas for naming cities:
	• after the founder or patron (Jacksonville, Baltimore, Washington, Stalingrad)
	• after the god or saint it’s dedicated to (San Francisco, Salvador) • after the people who once lived there (Paris— after the Parisii; Washington— the British town, after the Washings, the followers of Wasa; Andalucía— after the Vandals)
	• expressions of thanksgiving or hope
	• evocations of the virtues (Concord, Resolution, La Paz, União)
	• after a propitious existing city (Lima, Ohio; Paris, Texas; New Amsterdam; Versailles, Argentina)
	• how far you are from somewhere interesting (Half Day Road, Ventimiglia)
Geographical names often preserve a region’s linguistic history: Amerindian names in the U.S. and Latin America; Spanish and French names in the American West; Celtic names across Europe; Latin and Greek names in the Mediterranean; Bantu names in South Africa; Maori names in New Zealand. So the older places in your land should be named by whoever got there first, adapted to the language spoken there now. Since these are likely to be chief features of the land— rivers, lakes, mountain ranges, big cities— this is an argument for working out at least two naming languages before you get too far with your map.
Geographical terms
Plains
plain
savannah
meadow
field
prairie
Forests
forest
woods
grove
copse
Hills
and
mountains
hill
down
mountain
range
plateau
crest
peak
Valleys
valley
canyon
cliff
Harsh
terrain
marsh
swamp
desert
wilderness
jungle
Rivers
river
stream
brook
channel
rapids
portage
source
confluence
delta
bank
waterfall
spring
Lakes
lake
pond
Seas
sea
ocean
bay
strait
Coastlines
coast
beach
peninsula
cape
point
Islands
island
archipelago
atoll
Local
features
rock
tree
bridge
ford
dam
park
oasis
Types
of
trees
aspen
birch
cedar
elm
oak
palm
pine
willow
Human
terms
Settlements
city
town
village
colony
port
market
capital
Military
fort
castle
wall
camp
Religion
shrine
oracle
temple
church
chapel
monastery
Other
foci
mine
inn
stopping-point
post
lodge
mill
house
Roads
road
highway
trail
way
Useful
adjectives
Age
new
old
Shapes
round
flat
wide
narrow
high
low
Location
central
upper
lower
near
far
Direction
north
south
east
west
Respect
great
grand
glorious
noble
holy
royal
Salesmanship
fertile
beautiful
lucky
pleasant
quiet
gold
silver
jewel
Descriptive
windy
Color
white
black
green
yellow
blue
red
orange
brown
Water
quality
fast
slow
clear
muddy
noisy
laughing
reedy
Popular animals
horse
ox
lion
fox
deer
panther
hawk
eagle
dragon
ram
=============
The Fantasy Frequency Wordlist
Contains the words most often used by popular fantasy authors, sorted by frequency
Here’s the top fifty words, with their frequencies:
THE

67664
BE

38472
AND

36157
OF

30282
I

28158
A

28063
HE

27395
TO

26694
YOU

16424
IT

15814
IN

15723
THEY

14366
NOT

14121
HAVE

13869
THAT/THOSE

13095
SHE

12742
WITH

8107
WE

7884
AS

7820
FOR

7814
DO

7752
BUT

7446
SAY

7036
ON

6922
AT

6069
THIS/THESE
5162

FROM
4574

ALL
4251

THERE
4127

ONE
3952

BY
3834

WHAT
3767

SO
3637

SOME
3587

OUT
3534

GO
3464

OR
3430

WILL
3387

KNOW
3357

SEE
3303

NO
3301

UP
3228

COME
3203

IF
3123

THEN
2967

INTO
2882

LIKE
2808

WOULD
2785

COULD
2773

WHICH
2762

And here’s the next 150 words, each of which occurs atleast 620 times. They make up a further 12.5% of thecorpus.
LOOK
THINK
WHEN
WHO
CAN
NOW
MAKE
ANY
MAN
GET
TIME
MORE
ABOUT
DOWN
TAKE
OTHER
BACK
WEAR
GOOD
ONLY
HAND
OVER
LONG
THAN
TELL
VERY
WAY
LITTLE
BEFORE
WELL
LIFE
EYE
JUST
HERE
HOW
THING
THROUGH
TWO
EVEN
FIND
GIVE
ASK
FEEL
WHERE
AFTER
FIRST
FACE
HEAD
AGAIN
EVERY
SEEM
OWN
GREAT
TURN
STILL
DAY
OFF
WANT
AWAY
UPON
TOO
DOOR
OLD
MOVE
MUCH
MUST
PEOPLE
THOU
NEVER
THOUGH
RIGHT
NEW
STAND
LIGHT
SPEAK
YEAR
DEAD/ DEATH
HEAR
TRY
REAL
CITY
LAST
OPEN
BEGIN
MIGHT
SIDE
WHY
AGAINST
ANOTHER
LET
HOUSE
WORK
SHOULD
WHILE
ROOM
THREE
RUN
ONCE
PLACE
WOMAN
BECAUSE
WORLD
END
MIND
MOST
UNTIL
NOTHING
WORD
ARM
NIGHT
VOICE
LEFT
AROUND
WAR
HOLD
DARK
MEAN
KEEP
CLOSE
WITHOUT
CALL
FAR
MOMENT
YET
SMALL
EACH
MANY
FOOT
SUCH
TOWARD
COURSE
POINT
SIT
TALK
FALL
ENOUGH
WALL
HIGH
BEHIND
UNDER
FRIEND
MAY
NEED
STAR
LAND
ALMOST
WATER
BODY
NEAR
BRING
Here’s the next 300 roots, each of which occurs at least 248times:
follow
child
build
put
half
human
walk
watch
kind
few
(a)sleep
god
same
sure
sudden
strange
along
grow
air
lead
ever
young
stop
across
hard
between
round
also
love
lay
reach
late(r)
become
leave
white
pass
quite
wait
home
return
serve
true
power
set
always
name
red
shall
break
understand
answer
laugh
black
wonder
meet
heart
slow
strong
green
hour
large
horse
king
ring
use
help
ship
smile
part
fear
among
sound
happen
show
lord
believe
fight
four
deep
next
kill
silent
cry
boy
fire
together
send
lose
perhaps
bad
full
present
care
soon
remember
floor
start
die
second
clear
both
draw
animal
lady
step
low
rest
simple
learn
wish
stone
rather
father
appear
girl
certain
sun
possible
office
ground
since
change
play
order
big
least
explain
hundred
minute
breath
eat
hair
shake
above
short
cold
else
catch
question
son
space
shoulder
wood
free
less
party
whole
blood
indeed
tip
sea
direct
alone
guard
lie
(un)able
inside
story
sword
line
matter
color
travel
read
bright
gold
beauty
carry
final
force
morning
past
prince
quick
enter
system
already
cover
please
five
tree
suppose
peace
earth
ride
dream
machine
planet
control
continue
touch
colony
river
sort
finger
either
within
leg
mouth
easy
listen
pull
differ
expect
magic
table
spirit
hope
reply
bed
save
wise
reason
window
entire
fly
however
decide
interest
ear
nature
blue
act
distant
ready
stay
add
surprise
cut
burn
nor
gray
sense
thousand
person
realize
rise
soft
form
forward
idea
alien
drop
army
horror
remain
wide
front
hang
hide
mountain
moon
outside
beside
safe
sing
bear
escape
bit
creature
ten
weapon
metal
shadow
enemy
master
maybe
drive
fair
street
quiet
six
center
chief
forget
throw
soldier
top
pain
several
clothes
discover
raise
rule
suggest
edge
hot
road
rock
skin
fact
figure
complete
glad
sight
heavy
write
state
rose
except
The first 500 roots, above, make up 74% of the corpus.
Here’s the next 400 roots, each of which occurs at least122 times:
strike
dance
shut
trouble
happy
sign
case
danger
south
week
crowd
pick
sky
instant
whisper
hall
roof
twenty
fast
anger
teach
train
attack
notice
number
ago
pay
(a)wake
fool
silver
country
fill
blow
book
dear
instead
palace
poor
duke
council
dress
none
commit
secret
whatever
wild
field
lean
spend
(in)visible
beyond
choose/ choice
society
mother
wave
group
command
doubt
early
mere
difficult
art
consider
battle
below
general
sing
bear
escape
bit
creature
ten
weapon
metal
shadow
enemy
master
maybe
drive
fair
street
quiet
six
center
chief
forget
throw
soldier
top
pain
several
clothes
discover
raise
rule
suggest
edge
hot
road
rock
skin
fact
figure
complete
glad
sight
heavy
write
state
rose
except
The first 500 roots, above, make up 74% of the corpus.
Here’s the next 400 roots, each of which occurs at least 122 times:
strike
dance
shut
trouble
happy
sign
case
danger
south
week
crowd
pick
sky
instant
whisper
hall
roof
twenty
fast
anger
teach
train
attack
notice
number
ago
pay
(a)wake
fool
silver
country
fill
blow
book
dear
instead
palace
poor
duke
council
dress
none
commit
secret
whatever
wild
field
lean
spend
(in)visible
beyond
choose/ choice
society
mother
wave
group
command
doubt
early
mere
difficult
art
consider
battle
below
general
===================
625 Content Words
Some names:

Alice
Amanda
Anne
Ashley
Becky
Christine
Claire
Elizabeth
Jennifer
Jessica
Joan
Julie
Kate
Laura
Mary
Meg
Michelle
Natalie
Nicole
Rachel
Ruth
Sarah
Sharon
Stephanie
Susan
Alan
Alex
Andy
Brandon
Brian
Chris
Dan
Dave
Greg
Jim
Joey
John
Josh
Justin
Kevin
Mark
Matt
Mike
Nick
Paul
Peter
Rob
Steve
Tom
Tony

Adjectives:

good (quality)
bad (quality)
short
long
narrow
wide
thin
thick
tiny
little, small
big, large
huge
flat
round
lightweight
heavy
cold
cool
warm
hot
low (in altitude)
high (in altitude)
shallow
deep
dry
wet
soft
hard
slow
fast
new
old
dull
sharp
smooth
rough
same
different
right, correct
wrong
empty
full
clean
dirty
straight

Color words:

white
black
grey
red
yellow
green
blue
brown
orange
purple
pink
light blue
striped
light
dark

Sides:

top
bottom
front
back
left
right
corner
middle

Linking verbs:

to be (permanent)
to be (state)
to stay, to remain, to keep
to become, to get, to turn
to seem, to appear to be
to look
to sound
to feel
to smell
to taste

Vaic verbs (some languages make these aspects):

to begin, to start
to finish, to complete
to stop, to end
to continue

Events:

accident
birthday
date
meeting
party
race
shower
trip
vacation (US)/holiday (UK)
war
wedding
breakfast
lunch
dinner, supper

Entertainment words:

game
to play (a game)
to play (children's play)
to win
to lose
to take (a photo)
ball
movie, film
to watch (TV or film)

Money words:

money
coin
dollar (or other monetary unit)
to cost
cheap
expensive
rich
poor

Thinking verbs:

to think (cogitate)
to think (hold an opinion)
to believe, to think
to agree
to wonder
to decide
to know (information)
to know (a person)
to understand, to see
to dream (have an oneiric experience)
to learn

Feeling verbs:

to feel
to like (doesn't need to be expressed by a verb)
to love (agape)
to love (romantically, eros)
to love (something, philia)
to hate
to miss
to want, would like

Speaking verbs:

to speak, to talk
to say
to teach
to ask
to reply, to answer
to request, to ask for/that
to lie
to apologize
to argue
to thank
to call (refer to by a certain name)

Giving and receiving:

to have (something inalienable)
to have, to possess, to own
to get, to come to have, to obtain
to buy
to go shopping
to take
to bring
to give
to sell
to pay
to steal
to lose (come to no longer have)
to borrow
to lend
to send
to feed
to share
to need
to find
to lose, to misplace, to mislay

Verbs of physical contact:

to pull
to push
to pick
to touch
to kiss
to rub
to play (guitar, piano)
to play (drums)
to squeeze (a fruit)
to tap (on the shoulder)

Verbs of position:

to be sitting
to sit down
to be standing
to stand up
to lie, to recline
to lie down
to fall

Verbs of handling matter:

to throw
to open
to close
to put
to carry
to break
to cut
to split
to shatter
to tear
to squash, to crush
to dig
to wash
to wipe

Expressions and gestures:

to cry
to laugh
to smile

Bodily functions:

to live
to breathe
to eat
to swallow
to drink
to smoke
to sleep
to wake up
to cough
to yawn
to suck
to spit
to vomit, to throw up, to puke
to urinate, to pee, to piss, to make water, to take a leak
to defecate, to take a dump, to do one’s business
to break wind, to fart, to pass gas
to bleed
to sweat, to perspire
to have sex, to sleep with, to make love, to fornicate
to swell

The five senses:

to see
to look
color
to paint (a house, etc.)
picture
sign
to hear
sound
to feel
to taste
to smell

Verbs of movement:

to go
to come
to leave
to return
to turn
to go up, to ascend
to go down, to descend
to climb
to crawl
to dance
to drive
to fly
to jump
to ride (a bicycle, a camel, etc.)
to run
to swim
to walk

Verbs of physical aggression:

to bite
to hit
to kick
to kill
to scratch
to stab

Some nature words:

world
space
sun
star
moon
sky
wind
rain
snow
cloud
water
ice
air
light
fire
earth
wood
metal
ashes
dust
glass
rock, stone
salt
sand
soil, dirt
diamond
desert
forest
beach
island
mountain
valley
ocean, sea
river
lake
iron
silver
gold
to float
to sink
to flow
to freeze
to burn

Husbandry and farming words:

to hunt
to fish
to plant

Time words:

hour (or equivalent)
day (time it takes a planet to rotate on its axis)
month
year
morning
day, daytime
afternoon
evening
night
spring
summer
autumn, fall
winter

Food and drink:

food
to bake
to cook
meat
fish
chicken
beef
pork
ham
egg
nut
bread
fruit
vegetable
sugar
chocolate
cake
pie
cookie, biscuit
salad
soup
sauce
honey
milk
juice
beer
rotten
fresh

Places:

garden
country, nation, state, land
city, town
home, house
church/temple
hospital
park
school
tower
restroom
bank
bar
cinema, movie theater
hotel
library
restaurant
store, shop
bridge
road
street

Music words:

music
song
band
concert
to listen (to music)
to sing
piano
guitar
drum

Published material words:

to write
to draw
book
card
dictionary
homework
letter (written message)
magazine
newspaper
test, exam
word

Containers:

bag
basket
bottle
box

Vehicles:

airplane
bicycle
boat
bus
car, automobile
motorcycle
ship
skateboard
taxi
train
truck
wagon
wheel

Weapons:

arrow
gun
rope
spear

Household objects:

paper
pen
pencil
camera
CD
cell phone
computer
headphones
photograph
radio
telephone, phone
television, TV
knife
chair
table
refrigerator
bed
soap
mirror
door
window
wall
room

Clothes:

clothes
coat
glove
hat
jacket
pants
ring, piercing
shirt
shoe
shorts
skirt
sock
sunglasses
belt
button
watch
to wear
to wear on the head
to wear on the feet

Plant words:

bark
leaf
root
seed
stick
plant
bush
flower
tree
grass
rice
corn, maize
apple
banana
orange
bean
pepper (Capsicum)
potato
tomato
coffee
rose

Animal words:

feather
shell
tail
wing
animal
worm
spider
insect
fly
ant
fish
snake
bird
chicken
mouse
rabbit
horse
pig
camel
cow
goat
sheep
lamb
cat
dog
bear
elephant
monkey
human

Human body:

body
hair (mass)
head
face
eye
nose
mouth
tooth
tongue
ear
neck
shoulder
arm
hand
finger
nail
breast
abdomen
back
leg
foot
knee
skin
bone
heart
blood
tear

Physical description:

beautiful, pretty
handsome, attractive
ugly
short (height)
tall
young
old
blonde
brown (hair)
straight (hair)
curly
wavy
messy (of hair)
hazel
beard
freckles
glasses
blind

Physical condition:

(to be) hungry
(to be) thirsty
(to be) tired
(to be) cold
(to be) hot
dead
alive

Events in life:

to be born
to marry
to have (a baby)
to die

Emotions:

happy
sad
afraid
angry
proud
sorry
excited
interested
bored
surprised

Kinship terms:

parents
mother
father
wife
husband
older sister (of a sister)
older sister (of a brother)
younger sister (of a sister)
younger sister (of a brother)
older brother (of a sister)
older brother (of a brother)
younger brother (of a sister)
younger brother (of a brother)
child (reciprocal of parent)
daughter (of a mother)
daughter (of a father)
son (of a mother)
son (of a father)

People:

person, people
baby
child
little girl
little boy
teen, adolescent
girl
boy
adult
woman
man
actress/actor
artist
doctor
farmer
fisherman
priest
sailor
scientist
soldier
teacher
waiter/waitress/server
warrior
queen
king
princess
prince
president or prime minister, whichever your connation has
student
friend
neighbor

A few very basic verbs:

to be (location)
to be (Steve is a boy)
to do, to perform
to try, to attempt
to wait, to hold on
to use
to help (assist)
to make (create)
to make (cause to be)

And finally, some general nouns:

thing
group
class
team
pair, couple
place
kind, type, sort
system
name
=============
THE LEIPZIG-JAKARTA LIST
ant
arm/hand
ash
back
big
bird
to bite
bitter
black
blood
to blow
bone
breast
to burn (intransitive)
to carry
child (reciprocal of parent)
to come
to crush/to grind
to cry/to weep
to do/to make
dog
to drink
ear
to eat
egg
eye
to fall
far
fire
fish
flesh/meat
fly
to give
to go
good
hair
hard
he/she/it/him/her
to hear
heavy
to hide
to hit/to beat
horn
house
I/me
in
knee
to know
to laugh
leaf
leg/foot
liver
long
louse
mouth
name
navel
neck
new
night
nose
not
old
one
rain
red
root
rope
to run
salt
sand
to say
to see
shade/shadow
skin/hide
small
smoke
soil
to stand
star
stone/rock
to suck
sweet
tail
to take
thick
thigh
this
to tie
tongue
tooth
water
what?
who?
wide
wind
wing
wood
yesterday
you (singular)
===================
ETYMOLOGICAL FREQUENCY LIST (From Conlanger's Lexipedia by Mark Rosenfelder)
"Since I have over 3000 etymologies at hand, I thought it’d be fun to see what words come up most often in the glosses. So I ran them through the frequency program."
Rosenfelder, Mark (2013-12-09). The Conlanger's Lexipedia (p. 89). Yonagu Books. Kindle Edition.
Here’s all the words that appear more than ten times:
of
to
be
out
in
make
go
with
stand
no, not
one
up
place
from
put
on
by
for
know
together
turn
at
come
back
down
man
bend
cover
do
hand
under
thing
carry
good
stretch
cut
head
look
move
off
run
away
have
light
strong
take
against
all
bright
form
see
seize
sit
before
high
hold
lead
work
as
fall
part
set
strike
care
late
like
long
measure
point
same
seek
side
small
spread
two
face
flat
order
prepare
shine
walk
arm
circle
clear
mark
mind
open
right
sharp
show
straight
water
well
what
wind
again
bear
break
end
firm
fit
give
heart
hide
hit
live
people
swell
throw
time
toward
after
big
build
cause
child
day
divide
draw
dwell
earth
flow
forward
full
hollow
into
low
press
speak
step
think
way
"The standout here is ‘stand’, which underlies English assist, constant, distant, exist, insist, instant, resist, rest, stable, stage, stanza, state, station, statue, stay, steady, understand, as well as non-English words meaning admit, always, be, big, brave, build, can, cease, finger, form, happen, help, hour, immediate, last, old, place, rise, room, ship, soldier, tail, thick."
Rosenfelder, Mark (2013-12-09). The Conlanger's Lexipedia (p. 90). Yonagu Books. Kindle Edition.