jan
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| Pronunciation | /jan//j/ sounds like English Y, as in "fjord" or "hallelujah". |
|---|---|
| Usage | 2023: Core (100% ↗︎ )2022: Core (99%) |
| Book and era | nimi pu |
| Part of speech | Content word |
| Codepoint | U+F1911 |
jan is a core content word relating to people and humans.
Etymology
The word jan was derived from Cantonese 人 (jan4), meaning "person, someone".[1]
Semantic space
The semantic space of jan includes both humans (members of the species Homo sapiens) and people (the definition of which is less concrete). These concepts usually coincide, but not always; it's debatable whether jan applies to aliens, robots, talking animals, or tokiponists with headnouns other than jan, and whether groups containing them should be addressed as jan. As such, some speakers avoid using it as a general term.
pu
In the "Official Toki Pona Dictionary" section, the book Toki Pona: The Language of Good defines jan as:
NOUN human being, person, somebody
sitelen pona
The sitelen pona glyph for jan is a pictogram of a human head and shoulders. The glyphs for mije and meli are derived from it and are variations with wider shoulders and long hair, respectively.
References
- ↑ "Word Origins". tokipona.org. Archived from the original on 8 August 2002.