pakala

pakala
Pronunciation	/ˈpa.ka.la/ (listen)
Usage	2023: Core (100% → ) 2022: Core (100%)
Book and era	nimi pu
Part of speech	Content word
Codepoint	󱥈 U+F1948

pakala is a core content word relating to destruction.

Etymology

The word pakala is derived from Tok Pisin bagarap, meaning "broken", itself from English bugger up.

Semantic space

This section needs work:

inclusion of more meanings

If you know about this topic, you can help us by editing it. (See all)

The semantic space of pakala includes destruction, either intentional, such as violence, or unintentional, such as accidents, mistakes, and errors.

As an interjection, it is used to express anger, annoyance, irritation, or dissapointment, usually from an accident or mistake. It sometimes is translated into English as a curse expletive, such as fuck, damn, or shit. Note that pakala itself is not a curse word, as it is not culturally taboo.

pu

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

ADJECTIVE  botched, broken, damaged, harmed, messed up

ku

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

broken⁵81–100% of respondents, destruction⁵81–100% of respondents, mistake⁵81–100% of respondents, damage⁵81–100% of respondents, damn⁴61–80% of respondents, goddamn⁴61–80% of respondents, ruin⁴61–80% of respondents, burst⁴61–80% of respondents, accident⁴61–80% of respondents, destroy⁴61–80% of respondents, heck⁴61–80% of respondents, error⁴61–80% of respondents, hurt⁴61–80% of respondents, injure⁴61–80% of respondents, crash⁴61–80% of respondents, fail⁴61–80% of respondents, harm⁴61–80% of respondents, break⁴61–80% of respondents, failure³41–60% of respondents, fault³41–60% of respondents, injury³41–60% of respondents, flaw³41–60% of respondents, crack³41–60% of respondents, collapse³41–60% of respondents, snap³41–60% of respondents, fuck³41–60% of respondents, fucking³41–60% of respondents, trouble²21–40% of respondents, rip²21–40% of respondents, explode²21–40% of respondents, crush²21–40% of respondents, wound²21–40% of respondents, violate²21–40% of respondents, offense²21–40% of respondents, strike²21–40% of respondents, boom²21–40% of respondents, crap²21–40% of respondents

sitelen pona

The sitelen pona glyph for pakala represents a broken object, derived from the glyph for lipu.