Source:jan Misali's dictionary
On 8 November 2017, jan Misali posted a Twitter thread with short descriptions of every word in pu. With permission, it has been scraped and separated into the per-word sections below.
Alphabetized index: a · akesi · ala · alasa · ale · anpa · ante · anu · awen · e · en · esun · ijo · ike · ilo · insa · jaki · jan · jelo · jo · kala · kalama · kama · kasi · ken · kepeken · kili · kiwen · ko · kon · kule · kulupu · kute · la · lape · laso · lawa · len · lete · li · lili · linja · lipu · loje · lon · luka · lukin · lupa · ma · mama · mani · meli · mi · mije · moku · moli · monsi · mu · mun · musi · mute · nanpa · nasa · nasin · nena · ni · nimi · noka · o · olin · ona · open · pakala · pali · palisa · pan · pana · pi · pilin · pimeja · pini · pipi · poka · poki · pona · pu · sama · seli · selo · seme · sewi · sijelo · sike · sin · sina · sinpin · sitelen · sona · soweli · suli · suno · supa · suwi · tan · taso · tawa · telo · tenpo · toki · tomo · tu · unpa · uta · utala · walo · wan · waso · wawa · weka · wile |
a
a roughly means âsoâ, used as a filler word and as an interjection. more formally, a intensifies the meaning of the previous word. it can also mean âtooâ, which was added to its definition to replace the word kin, which is no longer considered part of the core vocab. (source)
toki
toki is a verb meaning âcommunicateâ and a noun meaning âcommunicationâ. any root can be used on its own as a sentence that means whatever the word describes is, or will soon be, present or happening. "toki!" means âcommunication is happening!â, a silly way to greet somebody. (source)
li
li indicates the beginning of a verb phrase. since every root in Toki Pona can be used as a noun, modifier, or verb, li is necessary to specify that you specifically are using its verb meaning. li is also the way to say âbeâ, even though li itself is not a verb. (source)
e
e goes before a noun phrase thatâs being used as an object. a typical transitive sentence in Toki Pona is in the form of [subject] li [verb] e [object]. you can add extra stuff too, as in [subject] li [verb] e [object] e [object] li [verb] e [object] e [object]. (source)
pona
pona is a modifier meaning âgoodâ. and a verb meaning âgoodifyâ or âfixâ. this is the default behavior of roots used as verbs. like all modifiers, it goes at the end of whatever phrase it modifies. for example, toki pona means âgood languageâ. (source)
mi
mi is a pronoun meaning âmeâ. like all words in Toki Pona, mi has no inherent number, so it can also mean âusâ. as a modifier, mi means âmyâ or âourâ. mi also can be short for mi li, which some Tokiponists say is mandatory. (source)
jan
jan is a noun meaning âpersonâ or âsomeoneâ. you can be more specific about which person youâre talking about by using their name. names are treated as modifiers rather than as nouns, meaning that everyone is called jan [Name]. for example, my name would be jan Mitch Halley. (source)
if you want, you can try to approximate your name with TP phonology. the only letters are iueoamnptkswlj, which are all pronounced like they are in the International Phonetic Alphabet. a syllable is (C)V(n), and ti ji wu wo nn nm or consecutive vowels are not allowed. (source)
la
la is the hardest word in TP to translate, which isnât saying much. basically, A la B means that when A happens B happens, where A and B are two clauses. this is sometimes also translated as âin the context of A, Bâ. la is mostly used to say when, where, or how something happens. (source)
ni
ni is a noun and a modifier meaning âthisâ or âthatâ. ni is used for the closest thing TP has to relative clauses. in a sentence that ends with a colon, ni refers to the next sentence. this is used in mi toki e ni, which means âI say...â. (source)
tawa
tawa is a preposition meaning âtowardsâ or âforâ. jan li toki tawa mi, for example, means âsomebody speaks to meâ. when used as an ordinary root, tawa is a verb that means âgoâ or âmoveâ. (source)
ona
ona is the third person pronoun. the way I like to translate it is âthemâ, which is a third person pronoun in English that similarly has no number, but itâs important to remember that ona can refer to anything, human or otherwise. (source)
pi
pi is usually translated as âofâ, which is a little misleading. pi is used to clear up ambiguities in longer phrases. jan toki pona means a pona sort of jan toki, (a good speaker) but a jan pi toki pona is a toki pona sort of jan. (a Tokiponist) (source)
ala
ala is a modifier meaning ânotâ or ânoneâ and a noun meaning ânothingâ. itâs used in one of the ways to form yes/no questions: [verb] ala [verb]. to say yes in response to this, you repeat the verb in the question, and to say no, you repeat the verb followed by ala or just ala. (source)
sina
sina is a pronoun meaning âyouâ. just like mi, sina can be short for sina li, so youâll basically never see sina li actually written out in full. (source)
en
en is a conjunction meaning âandâ. there arenât many cases where en is actually necessary, but it is needed when there are multiple subjects or multiple modifiers that ĂŚffect the same root without ĂŚffecting each other. (source)
kama
kama is a verb meaning âarriveâ or âbecomeâ. itâs used a lot to describe future events, as they are things that are to come, as it were. in a verb phrase, kama can also mean âsucceed atâ or âmanage toâ, as in mi kama tawa. (Iâve managed to go) (source)
sona
sona is a verb meaning âknowâ, a noun meaning âknowledgeâ, and a modifier meaning âsmartâ. the type of knowledge sona means can be either âbook smartsâ or âstreet smartsâ without needing to specify which one. a jan sona can be anybody with skills of any kind. (source)
mute
mute is a modifier meaning âa lotâ and a noun meaning âquantityâ. TPâs numbering system is, objectively speaking, not very good. usually, mute is used to specify plurals; mi mute unambiguously means âusâ. however, in the numbering system, mute means exactly 20. (source)
this means that mute could represent any amount larger than one, but sometimes is exactly twenty. honestly, you should avoid numbers in TP as much as possible. additionally, mute can be used similarly to a. pona a is âvery goodâ and pona mute is âa lot of goodâ. (source)
tenpo
tenpo is a noun meaning âtimeâ or âsituationâ. itâs used with la to form phrases about when something happens. tenpo ni la means ânowâ, and tenpo kama la means âin the futureâ. (source)
wile
wile is a verb meaning âwantâ or âneedâ. this is one of those things that makes you remember, âoh right, Toki Pona is a philosophical language.â (source)
o
o is a particle thatâs used in place of li to indicate a command. similar to how li can be skipped in mi (li) and sina (li), sina o is usually shortened to o. o is also used to address someone: jan [Name] o, [sentence]. (source)
ale
ale is a modifier meaning âallâ or âcountlessâ and a noun meaning âeverythingâ. a simple metaphorical extension of the noun meaning allows it to also mean âuniverseâ or âlifeâ. (source)
you might notice that ale sounds a lot like ala, which could be a problem since those words have opposite meanings. to fix this, you can say ali instead. actually, fun fact, in the official 120 words, you can always replace e with i and o with u, and never run into any ambiguity! (source)
oh also ale is part of the numbering system (more like DUMBering system amirite) so it sometimes means one hundred. (source)
lon
lon is basically just a generic all purpose preposition that can be used whenever two things are just kinda near each other. it corresponds to âatâ, âonâ, or âinâ, depending on the situation. lon is also a way to say yes in response to a yes/no question, with lon ala meaning no. (source)
ken
ken is a verb meaning âcanâ, by which I mean âbe able toâ, and not âput in a canâ. ken is sometimes used with la to mean âmaybeâ, as in ken la jan li pona. (maybe humanity is good) (source)
ike
ike is a modifier meaning âbad", in a subjective sense. anything you like is pona; anything you dislike is ike. (source)
suli
suli is a modifier meaning âbigâ. it can, of course, mean âbigâ in any manner, be that height, width, mass, age, or significance. (source)
moku
moku is a noun meaning âfoodâ or, more specifically, âsustenanceâ, because âfoodâ implies that it needs to be a solid, which it doesnât. as a consequence of TP's normal rules for verbing, moku can mean either âconsumeâ (make something into moku) or âbe foodâ. fun! (source)
ma
ma is a noun meaning âplaceâ or âearthâ. itâs used for country names. the prefered method is to use whatever name the country uses for itself, just like how when youâre talking about a person it would be very rude to call them something other than what they call themself. (source)
luka
luka is a noun meaning âhandâ or âarmâ. Toki Pona considers these to be the same part of the body. in the literal trash that is the numbering system, luka means five. get it? because a hand has five fingers! this is more convenient than just making more words! (source)
jo
jo is a verb meaning âhaveâ. a âhavingâ relationship is pretty difficult to define precisely. the ways to deal with this are either using separate words for everything or just combining them all and trusting that speakers will just deal with it. guess which solution TP went with! (source)
lukin
lukin is a verb meaning âseeâ and a noun meaning âeyeâ. it occasionally also means âappearanceâ, as in lukin pona, which means âattractiveâ.\noccasionally youâll see people use oko for âeyeâ, but like kin, oko isnât official. (source)
ijo
ijo is a noun meaning âthingâ or âsomethingâ. depending on your first language, you might have a hard time distinguishing phonetically between this and jo, because they sound pretty darn similar. unlike with ala and ale, there isnât a repair strategy for this. oops! (source)
pali
pali is a verb meaning âdoâ, âworkâ, or âmakeâ. like how ijo is the most generic noun, pali is the most generic verb. (source)
lawa
lawa is a verb meaning âcontrolâ and a noun meaning âcontrollerâ. thatâs the generic sense of âcontrollerâ, btw, like it can be anything that controls something. lawa is often translated as âheadâ or "leader", which are both things that control people. (source)
wan
wan is a modifier meaning âoneâ. much like how mute can be used to mark the plural, wan can be used to mark the singular. itâs important to remember that this isnât required; jan can refer to one person without specifying jan wan. (source)
kalama
kalama is a noun meaning âsoundâ. interestingly, itâs listed as a verb meaning âproduce a soundâ in the official wordlist and its noun meaning isnât, even though in practice the noun meaning is far more common. (source)
tomo
tomo is a noun meaning âstructure people can be inâ. itâs often translated as âbuildingâ, but that ignores phrases like tomo tawa, meaning âcarâ. (source)
kiwen
kiwen is a noun and an adjective meaning âsolidâ. a few words in TP might look like scientific terminology at a glance, but, with no exceptions, they are absolutely not scientific terminology. for this reason, kiwen is often translated as ârockâ or âhard thingâ. (source)
seme
seme is used to mark a question, where the answer is what word can replace seme to turn the question into a true statement. ma seme is âwhereâ, ijo seme is âwhatâ, and so on. itâs also used in an alternative way of asking yes/no questions that we will get to later. (source)
tu
tu is a modifier meaning âtwoâ or âa coupleâ. we have now covered all the words for numbers, so I can now do a proper explanation of how numbers work. basically, you count wan, tu, tu wan, tu tu, luka, luka wan, luka tu, and so on. (source)
ten is luka luka, twenty is mute, one hundred is ale, and one thousand is ale ale ale ale ale ale ale ale ale ale. Iâm sure you can see what the problem is here. (source)
lili
lili is a modifier meaning âlittleâ or âfewâ. man, lili is a cute word. itâs just a fun word to say, honestly. lili. anyway, lili also can mean âyoungâ, mostly because young people tend to be small. (source)
telo
telo is a noun meaning âliquidâ and a modifier meaning âwetâ or... âliquidâ. itâs frequently translated as âwaterâ, because thatâs the prototypical liquid or something. idk dude, seems like youâre being a little too specific there. as a transitive verb, it usually means âwashâ. (source)
nimi
nimi is a noun meaning âwordâ. if TP were marketed to Lojbanists, youâd hear stuff like âToki Pona has no nouns, adjectives, verbs, or adverbs, and instead all of these are combined into one thing called nimi.â honestly? thank God that TP isnât marketed to Lojbanists. (source)
nasa
nasa is a modifier meaning âstrangeâ. Iâve seen a lot of wordlists that translate nasa as âstupidâ, which I think is very rude! nasa can also mean âdrunkâ which makes sense when you think about it. (source)
pana
pana is a verb meaning âgiveâ. one time I got in an argument with a guy who didnât like TP who cited the multiple meanings of pana as an example of the "ambiguity" in the wordlist: it means give, send, emit, provide, put, or release. I still donât know what he was going on about. (source)
sin
sin is a modifier meaning ânewâ. it also can, but literally never does, mean âextraâ. this definition was added to sin in order to replace namako, which like nobody ever used. I guess you could say it was an⌠extra word? wow! I hate myself! (source)
ante
ante is a modifier meaning âdifferentâ and a verb meaning âchangeâ. itâs used in phrases like jan ante ale, which means âeveryone elseâ. (source)
meli
meli is a noun meaning âwomanâ and an adjective meaning âfemaleâ. officially it can also mean âfeminineâ but thatâs so dumb please donât do that. (source)
tan
tan is a preposition meaning âfromâ or âbecauseâ. you can use tan to say âwhyâ in the phrase tan seme. (source)
taso
taso is a modifier meaning âonlyâ and an interjection meaning âhoweverâ. you can easily extend its definition into a modifier meaning âaloneâ and a verb meaning âisolateâ if you want. (source)
pilin
pilin is a verb meaning âfeelâ, in both the emotional sense and in the sense sense. these two meanings can collectively be described as âdirect experiencesâ. pilin is frequently used to mean âbelieveâ, as in mi pilin e ni: sina jan pona. and⌠it also can mean âheartâ?? I guess?? (source)
sama
sama is a modifier meaning âsameâ or âsimilarâ. as a noun it means âequalityâ. it appears in the wonderful phrase jan sama, which literally means âsimilar personâ, but is used to mean âsiblingâ. (source)
kepeken
kepeken is a preposition meaning âusingâ. now, you might be thinking âthat sounds like the sort of word youâd need to use a lot! why on earth would such a common preposition be three entire syllables long?â you might not be thinking that but Iâm sure you are now. (source)
there isnât an answer to the question I just felt like pointing it out. a lot of Tokiponists shorten this in some way to like âkepenâ or something. I personally say something like âkepâkenâ when Iâm talking out loud. (source)
lupa
lupa is a noun meaning âholeâ or âentranceâ. itâs officially translated as âorificeâ which is just a gross way to say âholeâ. (source)
nanpa
nanpa is a noun meaning ânumberâ. itâs also used in conjunction with the dumbering system to form ordinal numbers. infuriatingly, this means that you canât use it to differentiate between stuff like âmanualâ and âfiveâ. please try to avoid using numbers whenever possible. (source)
suno
suno is a noun meaning âsunâ or âlight sourceâ. itâs somewhat controversial weather[a] it can also mean âstarâ, which is weird because stars are light sources and the sun is a star so why is that even a question. (source)
sitelen
sitelen is a noun meaning âimageâ or âwritingâ. basically, a sitelen is any visual representation of something. (source)
moli
moli is a modifier meaning âdeadâ or âdyingâ. as a verb, it can mean either âdieâ or âkillâ, depending on context, which Iâm sure would never get confusing. (source)
nasin
nasin is a noun meaning âwayâ, in both a literal and metaphorical sense. I mean to be fair using âwayâ to mean âmethodâ is a pretty logical extension of the literal meaning of âpathâ. you could make the argument that both meanings are the same meaning. (source)
kulupu
kulupu is a noun meaning âgroupâ or âcollectionâ. in English a lot of things have specific words for when thereâs a group of them, but in Toki Pona a herd, a flock, a crowd, a squad, a community, a business, a culture, and a family are all kulupu. (source)
olin
olin is a noun and a verb meaning âloveâ. some Tokiponists will get very angry at you if you use olin for any type of non romantic love but theyâre dumb and wrong about what love is. go ahead and use olin for whatever type of love you want. (source)
kili
kili is a noun meaning âedible plantâ. this is one of my favorite words both because itâs fun to say (for the same reason lili is fun to say) and because itâs the exact amount of vagueness that TP excels at. what even IS the difference between a fruit and a vegetable? (source)
ilo
ilo is a noun meaning âtoolâ. every tool is referred to by its function; a computer is an ilo nanpa and a sword is an ilo moli. (source)
mije
mije is a noun meaning âmanâ and a modifier meaning âmaleâ. I assume the reason mije is a less common word than meli is sexism, ie. people think of women as abnormal and men as default. in this essay, I will examine th (source)
open
open is a verb meaning, uh, âopenâ. it also means âstartâ, but people usually say kama for that. officially, mi open pali e ijo means âIâm starting to do somethingâ and mi kama pali e ijo means âIâve managed to do somethingâ. (source)
awen
awen is a verb meaning âcontinueâ or âwaitâ and a modifier meaning âsafeâ. youâre safe if youâre able to just wait, after all. (source)
anu
anu is a conjunction meaning âorâ. okay, remember earlier when I said you could use seme to form yes/no questions? well, hereâs the other word you need to do that. simply take a statement and end it with "anu seme?". lots of people use verb ala verb and anu seme interchangeably. (source)
kute
kute is a verb meaning âhearâ and a noun meaning âearâ. by metaphorical extension of âhearâ, kute can also mean âobeyâ. (source)
musi
musi is a modifier meaning âentertainingâ. as a noun, it can mean âartâ. this is one of my favorite words in TP because it can be used to describe any form of entertainment, from music (kalama musi) to poetry (toki musi) to recreational neologizing (pali nimi musi). (source)
pini
pini is a verb and a modifier meaning âcompleteâ. itâs used to indicate the past tense in "tenpo pini laâŚ" (source)
soweli
soweli is a noun meaning âland mammalâ. it also can be used for any animal if you want. the words for different types of animals donât get too specific, so unless you wanna take a stance on what the fundamental difference is between a cat and a dog, theyâre both called soweli. (source)
unpa
unpa is a verb meaning âhave sexâ. itâs also translated as âhave marital relations withâ but like come on we all know what youâre implying. (source)
utala
utala is a verb meaning âcompeteâ or âfightâ. a lot of people donât use utala to its full potential and only use it for physical struggles, which is a shame because theyâre missing out on things like utala toki (âargumentâ) and utala musi (âmultiplayer gameâ). (source)
kon
kon is a noun meaning âgasâ or âunseen forceâ. those of you who are good at science will know that those are pretty different things. Toki Pona is decidedly not for people who are good at science. (source)
lape
lape is a verb meaning âsleepâ or ârestâ. this word comes in handy in the phrase mi wile lape, which is something I find myself saying a lot! (source)
mama
mama is a noun meaning âparentâ or âcreatorâ. what I love about this word is that since "mama" means "mother" in basically every language, it would be silly to translate it as "father", meaning if you'd otherwise be dumb and sexist you're forced to remember that women exist. (source)
sewi
sewi is a noun meaning âtopâ and a modifier meaning âhighâ. this is one of a few words that can be combined with lon to form more specific prepositions. lon sewi means âaboveâ. metaphorically, sewi can mean âholyâ or âsupernaturalâ. (source)
pimeja
pimeja is a modifier meaning âdarkâ. if you want you could use it to mean âdarkâ in a metaphorical sense but usually you can just say ike in those situations and it means roughly the same thing but less ambiguous. (source)
kasi
kasi is a noun meaning âplantâ. itâs really just a kili that youâre not eating, when you think about it. (source)
laso
laso is a modifier meaning âgrueâ, and no, Iâm not talking about the lovable supervillain from the Despicable Me and Minions franchises! ha ha! grue is a color in some languages that could be either green or blue. you can specify either green or blue with laso kasi and laso telo. (source)
lipu
lipu is a noun meaning âdocumentâ or âpaper shaped objectâ. it doesnât matter what medium a lipu is; (even though that second definition might imply otherwise) websites, books, scripts, epic poems, tweets, scrolls, and tablets are all lipu. (source)
palisa
palisa is a noun meaning âstick shaped objectâ. yeah, weâre getting into THESE words now. TP has this whole set of words that refer to objects that are shaped certain ways, and theyâre mostly categories that donât have good English names. (source)
I mean okay yes there is a certain thing thatâs kinda shaped like a stick and yes there is a word in English that means shaped like that thing but honestly I already said sex before when I was defining unpa and I donât feel like bringing it up again here EXCEPT I JUST DID OH NOOO (source)
insa
insa is a noun meaning âinsidesâ or âcenterâ. lon insa is a prepositional phrase meaning âinâ. (source)
pakala
pakala is a noun meaning âmistakeâ and a verb meaning âmess upâ. used transitively, it means âdestroyâ, and as a modifier it means âbrokenâ. saying mi pakala translates to âI messed upâ, and is a pretty good way to apologize for something. (source)
sijelo
sijelo is a noun meaning âbodyâ or âphysical stateâ. it can be used to describe someoneâs health, where sijelo pona means healthy. (source)
walo
walo is a modifier meaning âbrightâ and a noun meaning âlightâ. you can combine it with pimeja to say walo pimeja or pimeja walo, which both mean âgrayâ. (source)
wawa
wawa is a noun meaning âpowerâ and a modifier meaning âstrongâ, âconfidentâ, or âintenseâ. this word is probably why people who donât like TP sometimes call it âglorified baby talkâ. but you know what? I like saying silly sounding words like wawa. theyâre fun to say! (source)
anpa
anpa is a noun meaning âundersideâ and a modifier meaning âlowâ. lon anpa is a prepositional phrase meaning âbelowâ. (source)
loje
loje is a modifier meaning âredâ. combined with laso, you can say either loje laso or laso loje to mean âpurpleâ. this is one of the cases where en comes in handy; if something is both red and grue separately and not purple, you can say that itâs loje en laso. (source)
waso
waso is a noun meaning âflying animalâ. you could translate this as âbirdâ but like, bats? (source)
sike
sike is a noun meaning âround objectâ. oh wait there is a word for this one! âspheroidâ! yeah, sike means âspheroidâ. thatâs a lot more sciencey. sike can be metaphorically extended to mean âcycleâ, meaning you can say tenpo sike to mean âyearâ. (source)
sinpin
sinpin is a noun meaning âfrontâ or âfaceâ. lon sinpin is a prepositional phrase meaning âin frontâ. (source)
weka
weka is a verb meaning âleaveâ and a modifier meaning âabsentâ. I think it would make a lot of sense to say mi weka to mean âgoodbyeâ, but instead people say mi tawa. oh, and if youâre saying goodbye to someone and youâre not leaving, you say tawa pona. (source)
jaki
jaki is a modifier meaning âuncleanâ and a noun meaning âfilthâ. as you probably expect by now, it can also be used metaphorically to mean âobsceneâ. (source)
len
len is a noun meaning âclothâ or âcoverâ. any given article of clothing is called len and then whatever part of the body it goes on, so a glove is a len luka and a hat is a len lawa and stuff like that. (source)
mu
mu is an interjection used for any animal sound, like âmeowâ or âmooâ. the fact that this isnât even the least necessary word on this list is one of my favorite things about Toki Pona. (source)
uta
uta is a noun meaning âmouthâ. as a verb, it generically means âuse your mouth onâ but not âeatâ because thatâs moku. (source)
jelo
jelo is a modifier meaning âyellowâ. fun fact: this is the same word as loje but with the syllables in the opposite order. itâs also literally just the English word âyellowâ. (source)
noka
noka is a noun meaning âfootâ or âlegâ. I feel like the only reason luka is so much more common than noka is that luka is used in the numbering system and noka isnât. (source)
poki
poki is a noun meaning âcontainerâ. predictably, it can be any type of container of any shape and of any contents. (source)
seli
seli is a modifier meaning âhotâ and a noun meaning âfireâ and âchemical reactionâ. as we all know, most chemical reactions are just things heating up. (source)
linja
linja is a noun meaning âstring shaped objectâ. this is a category that includes rope and hair and stuff. (source)
kule
kule is a modifier meaning âcolorfulâ and a noun meaning âcolorâ or âpigmentâ. you could probably get away with using kule to mean light instead of walo, but it might be a bit confusing. (source)
mani
mani is a noun meaning âcurrencyâ. virtually anything can be used as mani as long as people agree that it has value. in ma Mewika, the mani is really just some sike kiwen and some lipu and even some straight up nanpa. (source)
nena
nena is a noun meaning âbumpâ. when you think about it, thereâs a whole bunch of things that can be described as bumps. a hill? a button? a nose? all of these are nena. (source)
selo
selo is a noun meaning âouter layerâ. you know, like skin or bark or something. (source)
monsi
monsi is a noun meaning âbackâ. lon monsi is a prepositional phrase meaning âbehindâ. monsi also can mean âbottomâ, but not the meaning of bottom thatâs already covered by anpa if you know what Iâm saying. Iâm talking about BUTTS (source)
kala
kala is a noun meaning âaquatic animalâ. just like how walo[b] means âbirdâ but not really, kala means âfishâ but not really. (source)
pipi
pipi is a noun meaning âbugâ. once again, this isnât a super sciencey category. itâs basically just any living thing thatâs small and gross, which technically could also include bacteria and viruses. it sounds like peepee so itâs objectively hilarious. (source)
lete
lete is a modifier meaning âcoldâ and a verb meaning âfreezeâ or âkeep freshâ. (source)
ko
ko is a noun meaning âsticky substanceâ. not to be confused with palisa, which means âsticky objectâ. thatâs completely different. (source)
mun
mun is a noun meaning âmoonâ. it also can mean âstarâ which is very dumb and unintuitive and please just say suno for star itâs so much easier. (source)
poka
poka is a noun meaning âsideâ, âdirectionâ, or âhipâ. lon poka is a prepositional phrase meaning âat the sideâ. specifying which direction poka refers to is a non trivial exercise, since there arenât any easy ways to say âleftâ, ârightâ, or any of the cardinal directions. (source)
supa
supa is a noun meaning âhorizontal surfaceâ. strangely, there isnât a corresponding specific word for âvertical surfaceâ, but selo works for that in a pinch. (source)
akesi
akesi is a noun meaning âlizardâ. officially it means ânon cute animalâ but like what did lizards ever do to you, Sonja? have you even SEEN a lizard? how come akesi are ânon cuteâ but pipi arenât? heckin Your Fave Is Problematic over here, smh. (source)
suwi
suwi is a modifier meaning âsweetâ or âcuteâ. itâs a great way to describe any akesi. as a general rule of thumb, always call lizards akesi suwi because you never no[c] who to trust with this sort of thing, Sonja. it also can literally mean âsweetâ, as in sugar. (source)
alasa
alasa is a verb meaning âcollectâ or âhuntâ. weâre reaching the end of the word frequency list, so all these next words are pretty much never used. I donât think Iâve ever seen anyone use alasa, like, ever? (source)
esun
esun is a noun and a verb meaning âshopâ. people donât say esun very much because it would be very impractical to buy things in Toki Pona. âmi ken esun e ni kepeken mani pi mute seme?â âa, sina wile pana e mani mute.â âmi sona e ni. taso, mani pi mute SEME?â âmani mute!â (source)
pan
pan is a noun meaning âgrain based foodâ thatâs, frankly, underrated. I really like the word pan because it can be used metaphorically to mean âlifeâ, but since it literally refers to any grain based food it can also mean âpizzaâ. (source)
pu
pu is a verb meaning âinteract with Toki Pona: the Language of Good by Sonja Langâ. this word is literally only here so that the total number of words can be a nice even 120, and I absolutely love that. (source)
I love how TP doesnât take itself seriously. it doesnât pretend to be practical, and it doesnât pretend to be logical. TP knows exactly what it is, and itâs the sort of language that would have the goal of having as few words as possible but then add an extra word as a joke. (source)