Jamaican

From Jamaica +‎ -an.

• enPR: jə-mā'kən, IPA^(key): /d͡ʒəˈmeɪkən/

• Audio (General American):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪkən

Jamaican (plural Jamaicans)

1. A person from Jamaica or of Jamaican descent.
   • 2020 August 18, Richard Reddick, “The part of Kamala Harris’ story that fills Jamaicans with pride”, in CNN‎^[1]:

     For many of the just over 1 million Americans who emigrated from Jamaica or are of Jamaican ancestry, like myself, the fact that Harris’ heritage is widely being discussed helps to diversify how Jamaicans are seen, by showing us in the political and academic realm.

2. The Jamaican creole language.
3. Jamaican English.

• (creole language): Jamaican Creole, Jamaican Patois, Patois, patois, Patwa

• (person of Jamaican descent): person
• (creole language): creole, creole language (Creole language)
• (English): English

• Jafaican
• Jamerican

Jamaican (not comparable)

1. Of, from, or pertaining to Jamaica, the Jamaican people or the Jamaican language.
   • 2025 July 8, Zoe Sottile, “He was born to a US citizen soldier on an army base in Germany. Now he’s been deported to Jamaica, a country he’d never been to”, in CNN‎^[2], archived from the original on 10 July 2025:

     Thomas says his only option now is to apply for Jamaican citizenship through his late father. But he does not plan to, since “my life, my kids, my family is back in the States,” he said.

• Ethnologue entry for Jamaican Creole English, jam ⁠

• Jamiekan, Jumiekan

• IPA^(key): /d͡ʒʌˈmʲeːkan/, /d͡ʒaˈmʲeːkan/
• Hyphenation: Ja‧mai‧can

Jamaican

1. A normal Jamaican ting dat.

   That's a normal Jamaican thing.

   • 2019, Zalika Reid-Benta, Frying Plantain: Longlisted for the Giller Prize 2019 (in English), →ISBN:

     “ […] Yuh sure yuh a Jamaican gyal? […] ”

     […] Girl, are you sure you're Jamaican? […]

Jamaican (plural Jamaican dem, quantified Jamaican)

1. Mi haffi tell unnu dat mi a Jamaican.

   I must say (to you all) that I'm a Jamaican.

   • 2005, Mervyn Morris, Making West Indian Literature (in Jamaican Creole), →ISBN, page 80:

     “ […] 'nutten eena di world nuh sweet like when fi mi Jamaican dem go fi spoke […] ”

     […] nothing in the world is better than when Jamaicans attempt to speak eloquently […]

• Jamaica

• Richard Allsopp, editor (1996), Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, published 2003, →ISBN, page 311