List of Toki Pona words

This is a list of words in Toki Pona, a philosophical artistic constructed language created by Sonja Lang. These common words are always written in lowercase; capital letters are used only for proper names, such as the names of people.[1][2]

A few Toki Pona words are grammatical particles that are required to indicate sentence structure. The rest are content words with broad lexical meanings. Content words do not fall into well defined parts of speech; rather, they may be used generally as nouns, verbs, modifiers, or interjections depending on context or their position in a phrase. For example, ona li moku may mean "they ate" or "it is food".[1]

One of the language's main goals is a focus on minimalism. It is designed to express maximal meaning with minimal complexity.[2] Like a pidgin, it focuses on simple concepts and elements that are near-universal among cultures. It has a minimal vocabulary and 14 phonemes devised to be easy to pronounce for speakers of various language backgrounds.[3][1][4][5]

History

Sonja Lang first published Toki Pona online as a draft in 2001 with 118 words. As she developed the language from 2001 to 2014, the word count fluctuated around 120 words from 118 to 123 as Lang replaced, removed, and added words[6]. In 2014, Lang published Toki Pona: The Language of Good, presenting Toki Pona in its "completed form" with 120 words and 3 synonyms (referred to as nimi pu)[5]. In 2021, Lang published Toki Pona Dictionary based on surveys conducted in a Discord server. The dictionary adds an additional 17 words to the previous 120 for a total of 137 "essential" words (referred to as nimi ku suli), and it also lists a number of words that appeared less frequently in the surveys (referred to as nimi ku pi suli ala or nimi ku lili), including words created by the community[7]. Since the publication of Toki Pona Dictionary, community members have conducted larger-scale surveys to further evaluate word usage.

List of words

nimi pu

This list includes words published in Toki Pona: The Language of Good.

Toki Pona word English meaning Sitelen Pona Sitelen Sitelen
a (interjection) a in sitelen pona
akesi lizard or reptile akesi in sitelen pona
ala no, not, zero ala in sitelen pona
alasa hunt alasa in sitelen pona
ale all, 100 ale in sitelen pona
ali[a]
anpa down, lowly anpa in sitelen pona
ante different, other ante in sitelen pona
anu or anu in sitelen pona
awen enduring, wait, continue awen in sitelen pona
e direct object marker e in sitelen pona
en and (only used between multiple subjects) en in sitelen pona
esun market, trade esun in sitelen pona
ijo thing, object, matter ijo in sitelen pona
ike bad, superfluous ike in sitelen pona
ilo tool, device ilo in sitelen pona
insa inside, stomach insa in sitelen pona
jaki dirty, disgusting jaki in sitelen pona
jan person, human jan in sitelen pona
jelo yellow, light green jelo in sitelen pona
jo have, hold jo in sitelen pona
kala fish, sea creature kala in sitelen pona
kalama sound, noise, recite kalama in sitelen pona
kama come, become kama in sitelen pona
kasi plant kasi in sitelen pona
ken can, possible ken in sitelen pona
kepeken using kepeken in sitelen pona
kili fruit, vegetable kili in sitelen pona
kiwen hard, solid, stone kiwen in sitelen pona
ko paste, powder ko in sitelen pona lt=_(toki_pona)
kon air, spirit kon in sitelen pona
kule color, painted kule in sitelen pona lt=_(toki_pona)
kulupu group, community kulupu in sitelen pona lt=_(toki_pona)
kute ear, hear, listen, obey kute in sitelen pona lt=_(toki_pona)
la (context phrase marker) la in sitelen pona
lape sleep, rest lape in sitelen pona lt=_(toki_pona)
laso blue, green laso in sitelen pona lt=_(toki_pona)
lawa head, mind, control, lead lawa in sitelen pona lt=_(toki_pona)
len cloth, clothing, cover, privacy len in sitelen pona
lete cold, cool, raw lete in sitelen pona
li (predicate marker) li in sitelen pona
lili small, little, young lili in sitelen pona
linja line, string, hair linja in sitelen pona lt=_(toki_pona)
lipu flat object, paper, document lipu in sitelen pona
loje red loje in sitelen pona
lon at, in, on, real, true, exist lon in sitelen pona
luka hand, arm, five luka in sitelen pona
lukin eye, see, look at, try lukin in sitelen pona
lupa hole, door, orifice, window lupa in sitelen pona
ma land, earth, country ma in sitelen pona
mama parent, ancestor, creator, caretaker mama in sitelen pona
mani money, wealth, cattle mani in sitelen pona
meli woman, female, feminine, wife meli in sitelen pona
mi I, me, we, us mi in sitelen pona
mije man, male, masculine, husband mije in sitelen pona
moku eat, consume, food moku in sitelen pona
moli dead, die, death, kill moli in sitelen pona
monsi back, rear monsi in sitelen pona
mu animal onomatopoeia (moo, meow, etc.) mu in sitelen pona
mun moon, night sky object mun in sitelen pona
musi fun, playing, game, recreation, art, entertainment musi in sitelen pona
mute many, very, much, several, a lot, abundant, numerous, more mute in sitelen pona
nanpa number, ordinal indicator nanpa in sitelen pona
nasa strange, silly, drunk, (nonstandard, proscribed) foolish, crazy nasa in sitelen pona
nasin way, manner, custom, road, path, doctrine, system, method nasin in sitelen pona
nena bump, hill, mountain, button, nose nena in sitelen pona
ni this, that ni in sitelen pona
nimi word, name nimi in sitelen pona
noka leg, foot, organ of locomotion; base noka in sitelen pona
o O! (vocative or imperative) o in sitelen pona
olin love, respect olin in sitelen pona
ona he, she, it, they ona in sitelen pona
open open, begin open in sitelen pona
pakala blunder, accident, mistake, destruction, damage, break pakala in sitelen pona
pali make, activity, work, deed, project pali in sitelen pona
palisa long hard object (e.g. rod, stick, branch) palisa in sitelen pona
pan grain, cereal, bread, pasta pan in sitelen pona
pana give, put, send, place, release, emit pana in sitelen pona
pi (modifier phrase marker) pi in sitelen pona
pilin feelings, emotion, heart pilin in sitelen pona
pimeja black, dark, shadow pimeja in sitelen pona
pini end, finish, stop, past pini in sitelen pona
pipi bug, insect pipi in sitelen pona
poka side, hip, next to, vicinity poka in sitelen pona
poki container, box, bowl poki in sitelen pona
pona good, simple, useful pona in sitelen pona
pu relating to Toki Pona: The Language of Good pu in sitelen pona
sama same, similar, equal, like sama in sitelen pona
seli fire, warmth, heat seli in sitelen pona
selo outside, surface, skin, boundary selo in sitelen pona
seme what, which seme in sitelen pona
sewi high, up, above, sacred sewi in sitelen pona
sewi in sitelen pona
sijelo body, physical state, torso sijelo in sitelen pona
sike circle, wheel, ball, year sike in sitelen pona
sin new, fresh, another sin in sitelen pona
sina you sina in sitelen pona
sinpin front, wall, chest, face sinpin in sitelen pona
sitelen picture, image, write, draw sitelen in sitelen pona
sona know, information, wisdom sona in sitelen pona
soweli animal, (especially) land mammal soweli in sitelen pona
suli big, tall, long, important, adult suli in sitelen pona
suno sun, light suno in sitelen pona
supa horizontal supporting surface, platform, furniture, table, chair supa in sitelen pona
suwi sweet, cute, sugar suwi in sitelen pona
tan from, because of, cause tan in sitelen pona
taso but, only taso in sitelen pona
tawa to, for, move, go tawa in sitelen pona
telo water, liquid, wet, wash, beverage telo in sitelen pona
tenpo time, moment, period, situation tenpo in sitelen pona
toki say, speech, language toki in sitelen pona
tomo house, building, room tomo in sitelen pona
tu two, halve tu in sitelen pona
unpa sex, sexual unpa in sitelen pona
uta mouth, lips, jaw, oral uta in sitelen pona
utala conflict, battle, fight, compete utala in sitelen pona
walo white, light-colored walo in sitelen pona
wan one, unique, unite wan in sitelen pona
waso bird, winged animal waso in sitelen pona
wawa strong, power, energy wawa in sitelen pona
weka away, absent, missing weka in sitelen pona
wile want, need, desire, must wile in sitelen pona

nimi ku suli

This list includes additional words described as "important" in Toki Pona Dictionary.

Toki Pona word English meaning Sitelen Pona Sitelen Sitelen
namako extra, additional, spice, season, embellish namako in sitelen pona
namako in sitelen pona
kin also, too kin in sitelen pona
oko eye oko in sitelen pona
kipisi cut, divide, part kipisi in sitelen pona
leko block, square leko in sitelen pona
monsuta monster, fear, danger, scary monsuta in sitelen pona
tonsi non-binary, transgender tonsi in sitelen pona
jasima (uncommon) reflection, mirror jasima in sitelen pona
kijetesantakalu (humorous) raccoon kijetesantakalu in sitelen pona
soko mushroom, fungus soko in sitelen pona
meso average, medium meso in sitelen pona
epiku (humorous) epic epiku in sitelen pona
kokosila (uncommon, humorous) speak another language when Toki Pona would be more appropriate kokosila in sitelen pona
lanpan grab, seize, steal lanpan in sitelen pona
n um, hmm n in sitelen pona
misikeke medicine, cure misikeke in sitelen pona
ku relating to Toki Pona Dictionary ku in sitelen pona

Other words

Words not listed above are considered deprecated or obscure. For lists of less common words, see Appendix:Toki Pona#Other words on Wiktionary.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ While some sources list ale and ali separate words,[8] Lang originally published them as variations of the same word.[9][10][11][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c Blahuš, Marek (November 2011). Fiedler, Sabine (ed.). "Toki Pona: eine minimalistische Plansprache" [Toki Pona: A Minimalistic Planned Language] (PDF). Interlinguistische Informationen (in German). 18. Berlin: 51–55. ISSN 1432-3567. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2021-06-27. Retrieved 2019-01-08.
  2. ^ a b Rogers, Steven D. (2011). "Part I: Made-Up Languages – Toki pona". A Dictionary of Made-Up Languages. United States of America: Adams Media. ISBN 978-1440528170.
  3. ^ Morin, Roc (2015-07-15). "How to Say (Almost) Everything in a Hundred-Word Language". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on 2022-07-12. Retrieved 2019-08-01.
  4. ^ Thomas, Simon (2018-03-27). "Exploring Toki Pona: do we need more than 120 words?". Oxford Dictionaries. Archived from the original on 2019-05-11. Retrieved 2019-02-03.
  5. ^ a b Lang, Sonja (2014). Toki Pona: The Language of Good (1st ed.). ISBN 978-0-9782923-0-0.
  6. ^ Lang, Sonja. "Toki Pona Word List". Archived from the original on 2 December 2019.
  7. ^ Lang, Sonja (2021). Toki Pona Dictionary. ISBN 978-0-9782923-6-2.
  8. ^ Fabbri, Renato (July 2018). "Basic concepts and tools for the Toki Pona minimal and constructed language". ACM Transactions on Asian and Low-Resource Language Information Processing. arXiv:1712.09359.
  9. ^ "Toki Pona word origins". tokipona.org. 2009-09-28. Archived from the original on 2010-03-08.
  10. ^ "nimi ale pona (2nd ed.)". 2020-10-08. Retrieved 2024-11-18.
  11. ^ Tomaszewski, Zach (2012-12-11). "A Formal Grammar for Toki Pona" (PDF). University of Hawai‘i. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2019-11-01. Retrieved 2019-09-21.
  12. ^ Yerrick, Damian (2002-10-23). "Toki Pona li pona ala pona? A review of Sonja Kisa's constructed language Toki Pona". Pin Eight. Archived from the original on 2007-09-28. Retrieved 2007-07-20.

Publications

  • Lang, Sonja (2014). Toki Pona: The Language of Good. Tawhid. ISBN 978-0978292300. OCLC 921253340.
    • This book was translated as: Lang, Sonja; Strake, Julius (2021). Toki Pona: Die Sprache des Guten [Toki Pona: The Language of Good] (in German). Independently published (published 2021-12-01). ISBN 979-8770755251. Archived from the original on 2022-07-20. Retrieved 2022-06-26.
    • This book was translated as: Lang, Sonja (2016). Toki Pona : la langue du bien (in French). Tawhid. ISBN 978-0978292355.
  • Lang, Sonja (2021). Toki Pona Dictionary. Illustrated by Vacon Sartirani. Tawhid. ISBN 978-0978292362.
  • Cárdenas, Eliazar Parra (2013). Toki pona en 76 ilustritaj lecionoj [Toki Pona in 76 illustrated lessons] (in Esperanto). Translated by Blahuš, Marek. Partizánske, Slovakia: Espero. ISBN 978-80-89366-20-0.
  • Toki Pona Stories: akesi seli lili [The Little Dragon]. 2020. ISBN 979-8637271252.
  • Samys, Ret (2021-09-06). ma pi kulupu tu [The Land of Two Peoples] (in German). Berlin, Germany: Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. ISBN 9783754161654. Archived from the original on 2022-06-27. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
    • This book was translated as: Samys, Ret (2021-09-06). ma pi kulupu tu [The Land of Two Peoples]. Berlin, Germany: Holtzbrinck Publishing Group. ISBN 9783754161647. Archived from the original on 2022-06-27. Retrieved 2022-06-27.
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