Common lexicalizations

An important part of toki pona philosophy is that the speaker must think about what something is at its core before they can talk about it. Fixed phrases for specific things, also known as lexicalizations, are frowned upon, as they sidestep that aspect, while also forcing other speakers to memorize such combinations and making it difficult to use them to refer to other things.

Nonetheless, some semi-lexicalizations do creep into common usage. This page aims to catalog them, and provide ideas for alternatives, and inspiration for your own phrasings.

Featured in pu[edit | edit source]

These phrases occur in pu.

Lexicalized phrase	Meaning	Alternatives
toki pona^[1]	the Language of Good by Sonja Lang	toki ni, toki lili, toki pi nimi lili, toki pi nimi mute ala, toki pi nimi ale mute (or more) toki pi jan Sonja, toki pu, toki tan lipu pu, toki ku Any above, replacing toki with nasin toki
tomo tawa^[2]	car	ilo tawa, kiwen tawa, poki tawa, supa mute tawa Any above, replacing tawa with awen, pini (when parked, stopped, or braking) tomo nasin, poki jan, tomo pi noka sike, soweli ilo, mani kiwen tomo pi weka ma, tomo pi pana kon ike, tomo pi sike kalama, ilo moli (critical)
telo nasa	alcoholic drink	telo pan, telo ike, telo pona, telo musi, telo pi ante lawa, telo pi lawa weka
jan pona	friend	jan poka, jan olin (for close friends), jan mi, jan kulupu, jan pi kulupu mi Any above, replacing jan (for nonhuman friends)
jan lili	child	jan kili, jan tan mama (as in offspring) jan sin, jan pi tenpo lili (as in youth) Any above, replacing jan (for nonhuman children)

↑ Same goes for sitelen pona and such.
↑ Funnily enough, pu uses this as part of a call not to lexicalize, proposing ilo tawa from the perspective of a driver and kiwen tawa from that of a hit pedestrian.

Time phrases[edit | edit source]

Other[edit | edit source]

Lexicalized phrase	Meaning	Alternatives
ma pona	the Discord server ma pona pi toki pona	ma ni, ma pi suli nanpa wan, ma pi akesi Jan
jan sin	newbie, especially in a toki pona context	jan pi kama sona, jan pi open sona, jan pi sona lili Any above, replacing jan (for nonhuman newcomers)
nimi sin^[1]	word created after pu or ku word that would be new to someone who has only read pu or ku, even if created before	nimi namako^[2], nimi pi pu ala, nimi pi ku ala, nimi nasa, nimi pi kepeken lili
kasi nasa	marijuana and its derivatives, such as edibles, vapes	moku nasa, moku pi lawa weka, kasi pi pilin nasa, kasi pi wile moku
pana sona	to teach, teaching, education	mi pana e sona, sina kama sona tan mi
soweli tomo	pet	soweli pona, soweli poka, soweli mi, soweli jan, soweli olin, soweli awen Any above, replacing soweli with akesi, kala, pipi, waso (for non–land mammal pets)
ken la	maybe	lon ken, ni li ken
supa lape	bed	ilo lape, supa ko, supa unpa
kalama musi	music	musi kalama, musi kute, kalama nasin, nasin kalama, kalama kulupu, kulupu kalama, kalama pona
ilo sona	computer	ilo, ilo nanpa, poki nanpa, ilo pi sitelen soweli, ilo supa, ilo wawa
wile sona	question	alasa sona, kama sona, toki tawa sona sin, toki pi lon anu lon ala, toki sama a ala a, toki tan sona ona pi sona ala ona
tomo telo	bathroom	tomo jaki, tomo pi pana/weka jaki, tomo pi pona selo
soweli mani	cow	soweli suli, soweli walo pimeja, soweli pi telo walo

↑ Often merged into nimi sin, itself a new word.
↑ Itself using a nimi namako. See Synonyms.

[1] Same goes for sitelen pona and such.

[2] Funnily enough, pu uses this as part of a call not to lexicalize, proposing ilo tawa from the perspective of a driver and kiwen tawa from that of a hit pedestrian.

[3] Often merged into nimi sin, itself a new word.

[4] Itself using a nimi namako. See Synonyms.

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