Abbreviations
This is a list of nonstandard abbreviations in Toki Pona, generally only used in informal settings.
kepeken[edit | edit source]
  | |
| Pronunciation | /ˈke |
|---|---|
| Usage | 2023: Obscure (3% ↗︎ ) Most speakers don't understand this word.2022: Obscure (1%)
|
| Book and era | No book (post-pu) |
| Part of speech | Content word |
kepeken is tied with sitelen as the longest nimi pu. It has accrued many abbreviations, such as kepen and kpkn.
The three-letter abbreviations kkn, kpk, and kpn cannot be mistaken for any other nimi ku or nonstandard word. kep only overlaps with okepuma, an obscure nimi sin.[a] The possible two-letter abbreviation kk conflicts with several nimi ku. However, it is unique among nimi pu, though probably extremely unclear. Every other two-letter abbreviation is more ambiguous.
kijetesantakalu[edit | edit source]
kijetesantakalu is often shortened to kijete or kije. Some speakers dislike this, as the original point of the word was to be overly long, while proponents of these abbreviations may like and use the word for unrelated reasons.
tenpo[edit | edit source]
  | |
| Pronunciation | /ten/ 🔊 |
|---|---|
| Usage | 2023: Not notable (1% → ) Most speakers don't understand this word.2022: Obscure (1%)
|
| Book and era | No book (post-pu) |
| Part of speech | Content word |
ten is a marginal proposed abbreviation of tenpo. It can be written the same in the logographic writing systems, as first proposed by nimi Elemenopi in July 2020.[1][2] An alternative sitelen pona glyph for ten (ten2) is shaped after an hourglass, and can be drawn in one stroke as a twisted quadrilateral, though it could be confused for a stylized loje (loje).
ten occurs in the contraction ten'ni of the phrase tenpo ni, which according to jan Kipo is characteristic of jans.
From sitelen pona[edit | edit source]
Some words are abbreviated based on their corresponding sitelen pona glyphs.
| Word | sitelen pona | Abbreviations | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ala | ala | X x | ||
| e | e | >> » | ||
| en | en | + | ||
| ken | ken | K k κ | ||
| la | la | ) | ||
| li | li | > › | ||
| mi | mi | P p ρ | ||
| nanpa | nanpa | # | ||
| pi | pi | L | ||
| sama | sama | = | ||
| sina | sina | b 6 | ||
| wile | wile | W w ω | ||
Headnouns[edit | edit source]
When referring to someone, their headnoun may be abbreviated as a single letter and attached to the name word without a space, such as soweli Keju becoming sKeju. Modifiers get their own letters, so akesi wawa Lupon becomes awLupon. Abbreviating headnouns in this way is attested as early as 2009.[3]
Numbers[edit | edit source]
Number words may be written as their first letters, capitalized and without spaces between them. For example, ale ale mute luka luka wan could be written as AAMLLW.
See also[edit | edit source]
- Acronyms
- tk pon, an abbreviation system by jan Misali
Notes[edit | edit source]
- ↑ This may be confirmed with the regular expressions
/k\w*k\w*n/,/k\w*p\w*[kn]/, and/k\w*e\w*p/.
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ nimi Elemenopi [u/ElemenopiTheSequel]. (26 July 2020). "I made a sitelen pona glyph for every non-pu word in the "nimi ale pona" dictionary". r/tokipona. Reddit. Retrieved 28 December 2023.
- ↑ nimi Elemenopi [u/ElemenopiTheSequel]. (15 August 2020). "Here are the official glyphs for the 1b words in the NA". r/OffThePu. Reddit. Retrieved 28 December 2023. "[Key: red] = identical to pu".
- ↑ jan-ante (11 December 2009). Re: ken ala ken weka e sitelen ike?. "mi pilin e ni:jSonja li pana e jan lawa sin tawa tomo toki ni la ni li pona tawa mi ale. jKipo li jan lawa pona tawa mi". Toki Pona Forums.