waso

waso
Pronunciation	/ˈwa.so/ (listen)
Usage	2023: Core (99% → ) 2022: Core (99%)
Book and era	nimi pu
Part of speech	Content word
Codepoint	󱥴 U+F1974

waso is a core content word relating to birds and flying animals.

Etymology

The word waso is derived from Acadian French oiseau, meaning "bird".

Semantic space

This section needs work:

include edge cases: penguins, flying squirrels, is gliding waso?

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

The semantic space of waso includes flying and winged animals, including but not limited to birds. It includes other animals, such as bats and pterodactyls.

There are some edge cases, such as:

• Ostriches and emus cannot use their wings as a primary means of movement and have adapted to living on the ground while moving around very fast, leading speakers to describing them as soweli over waso.
• Penguins also cannot use their wings as a primary means of movement in air.

Some speakers humorously extend waso to refer to anything that is in the air at a given moment. For example, a ball throw into the air might be described with that word. By extension, waso is used as a verb relating to flying. The word kala has a similar use relating to anything in water.

tomo tawa waso
tomo tawa waso

airplane (literally, "flying moving-room")

pu

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

NOUN  bird, flying creature, winged animal

ku

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

bird⁵81–100% of respondents, chicken³41–60% of respondents, duck²21–40% of respondents, turkey²21–40% of respondents, eagle²21–40% of respondents, bat²21–40% of respondents

sitelen pona

The sitelen pona glyph for waso represents the beak of a bird.