awen

awen is a core content word and preverb that describes staying, keeping, and continuing.

awen
Pronunciation	/ˈa.wen/
Usage	2023: Core (99% ↗︎ )2022: Core (98%)
Book and era	nimi pu
Part of speech	Content word
Codepoint	󱤈 U+F1908

Etymology

The word awen is derived from Dutch houden, meaning "to keep, to care for".

Semantic space

The semantic space of awen includes the continuation, maintaining, or immutability of a state or action. As an intransitive verb, awen usually refers to staying in place (waiting) or continuing to act (inertia). Without further detail, this can possibly lead to ambiguity.

o awen lon tenpo suli

o awen lon tenpo suli.

Stay for a long time.
Keep going for a long time.

This may be specified with a more complex predicate, such as awen tawa ("continue to go") or awen tawa ala ("continue to not go"). As a transitive verb, awen can mean to keep something in certain place or state. Abstractly, it refers to protect and defend something in order for it to remain secure and unharmed.

selo li awen e akesi

selo li awen e akesi.

The shell protects the turtle.

mama li awen e jan ona

mama li awen e jan ona.

Parents take care their children.

Preverb

As a preverb, the word awen refers to the continuation of an action.

mi awen pali

mi awen pali.

I continue working.

kasi ko li awen lon lipu

kasi ko li awen lon lipu.

The pasted plants will stay on the page.

pu

In the "Official Toki Pona Dictionary" section, the book Toki Pona: The Language of Good defines awen as:

ADJECTIVE  enduring, kept, protected, safe, waiting, staying
PRE-VERB  to continue to

ku

For Toki Pona Dictionary, respondents in ma pona pi toki pona translated these English words as awen:

stay⁵81–100% of respondents, await⁵81–100% of respondents, wait⁵81–100% of respondents, preserve⁵81–100% of respondents, remain⁵81–100% of respondents, sustain⁵81–100% of respondents, retain⁴61–80% of respondents, defend⁴61–80% of respondents, endure⁴61–80% of respondents, continued⁴61–80% of respondents, continue⁴61–80% of respondents, secure⁴61–80% of respondents, continuing⁴61–80% of respondents, save⁴61–80% of respondents, protect⁴61–80% of respondents, keep⁴61–80% of respondents, still³41–60% of respondents, reserve³41–60% of respondents, protection³41–60% of respondents, remaining³41–60% of respondents, continuous³41–60% of respondents, stability³41–60% of respondents, maintain³41–60% of respondents, safe³41–60% of respondents, security³41–60% of respondents, stable³41–60% of respondents, constant³41–60% of respondents, protective³41–60% of respondents, defence³41–60% of respondents, left (remaining)³41–60% of respondents, defensive²21–40% of respondents, maintenance²21–40% of respondents, rescue²21–40% of respondents, stand²21–40% of respondents, standing²21–40% of respondents, steady²21–40% of respondents, pause²21–40% of respondents, custody²21–40% of respondents, safely²21–40% of respondents, saving²21–40% of respondents, guard²21–40% of respondents, reservation²21–40% of respondents, suspend²21–40% of respondents, hang²21–40% of respondents, ongoing²21–40% of respondents, hesitate²21–40% of respondents, safety²21–40% of respondents, delay²21–40% of respondents, conservation²21–40% of respondents

sitelen pona

The sitelen pona glyph for awen (󱤈) represents two legs standing in place, feet turned outwards. Compare kama and tawa.

sitelen sitelen

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Further reading

• "awen" on lipu Linku
• "awen" on lipu Wikipesija
• "awen" on English Wiktionary