tenpo

tenpo
Pocket watch on a table
Pronunciation	/ˈten.po/
Usage	2024: Core (100% → )2023: Core (100% → )2022: Core (100%)
Book and era	nimi pu
Part of speech	Content word
Codepoint	󱥫 U+F196B

tenpo is a core content word relating to time.

Etymology

The word tenpo is derived from Esperanto tempo ("time"), itself from Latin tempus ("time"). It is cognate with English tempo, temporal, and tense.

Semantic space

Main article: Time

The semantic space of tenpo includes periods and moments of time, as well as occasions and situations. It is used as a headnoun in many common time phrases and for many holidays.

mi lukin e ilo tenpo　

mi lukin e ilo tenpo.

I'm looking at the time tool (clock).

pu

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

NOUN  time, duration, moment, occasion, period, situation

ku

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

time⁵81–100% of respondents, timing⁴61–80% of respondents, session⁴61–80% of respondents, occasion⁴61–80% of respondents, phase⁴61–80% of respondents, moment³41–60% of respondents, date³41–60% of respondents, circumstance³41–60% of respondents, hour³41–60% of respondents, appointment³41–60% of respondents, scenario³41–60% of respondents, event²21–40% of respondents, season²21–40% of respondents, period²21–40% of respondents, interval²21–40% of respondents, situation²21–40% of respondents, instance²21–40% of respondents

tenpo dropping

tenpo dropping is an analysis of Toki Pona grammar, according to which the word tenpo is omitted in certain time phrases. As the main examples:

• tenpo suno for "day" (lit.literal translation 'light period; time of the Sun') becomes suno. This is similar to how the English word "sun" can describe a day, framing it as a type of lightness rather than time directly.
• tenpo sike for "year" (lit.literal translation 'time of a cycle') becomes sike, whose semantic space specifically covers the concept of a year according to pu.

This analysis is contested: both suno and sike have semantic reasons to refer to days and years, and tenpo is "dropped" less often from tenpo mun or tenpo esun because those modifiers do not have similar semantics. lipamanka argues that the actual phenomenon is a semantic shift of the word suno; this is comparable to the "palin't" shift.

sitelen pona

This article needs work:

Hourglass-based alt glyph (tenpo2tenpo2); is it only used for ten or also for tenpo?

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

The sitelen pona glyph for tenpo (󱥫) represents an analog clock. It is typically drawn with one hand pointing up, and another pointing right; their relative lengths are unimportant and are usually drawn with the same length.

sitelen sitelen

The sitelen sitelen glyph for tenpo (tenpotenpo) could depict a clock with the places for the numbers of 12, 3, 6, and 9 represented by bubbles. The four semicircles could alternatively represent four points on the day-night cycle, or the four seasons.

Further reading

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