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nenchihua.

Headword: 
nenchihua.
Principal English Translation: 

to do something in vain or without profit (see Molina and Karttunen)

Orthographic Variants: 
nenchiua
IPAspelling: 
neːntʃiːwɑ
Alonso de Molina: 

nenchiua. nitla. (pret. onitlanenchiuh.) hazer algo envano o sin algun prouecho.
Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 67v. col. 2. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.

Frances Karttunen: 

NĒNCHĪHU(A) vt to do something in vain or without profit / hacer algo en vano o sin algún provecho (M) [(3)Tp.194). See NĒN, CHĪHU(A).

NĒNCHĪHUILĪA applic. NĒNCHĪHU(A).

NĒNCHĪHUALO nonact. NĒNCHĪHU(A).
Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 167.