wawa

From sona pona, the Toki Pona wiki
wawa in sitelen pona
wawa in sitelen sitelen
Pronunciation /ˈwa.wa/
Usage 2024: Core (100% → )2023: Core (100% ↗︎ )2022: Core (99%)
Book and era nimi pu
Part of speech Content word
Codepoint 󱥵 U+F1975

wawa is a core content word relating to power and strength.

Etymology[edit | edit source]

The word wawa is derived from Finnish vahva (/ˈʋɑhʋɑ/, "strong, powerful, determined").[1]

Semantic space[edit | edit source]

Under construction This section needs work. If you know about this topic, you can help us by editing it. (See all)

The semantic space of wawa includes power and strength. Its semantic space also includes energy, either concretely, such as electricity and force, or abstractly, such as motivation or confidence. It also includes saturation and concentration, as opposed to dilution.[2]

Interjection[edit | edit source]

wawa can be used as an interjection, with a similar meaning to "Amazing!". This usage became popular in the early 2020s.[3]

pu[edit | edit source]

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

ADJECTIVE  strong, powerful; confident, sure; energetic, intense

ku[edit | edit source]

For Toki Pona Dictionary, respondents in ma pona pi toki pona translated these English words as wawa:[4]

strength5, power5, powerful5, strong5, energy5, strongly5, force4, intense4, bold4, intensity4, reinforce4, firmly4, strengthen4, charge3, brave3, rapid3, electrical3, might2, tough2, electricity2, fast2, rapidly2, compelling2, confident2, quickly2, glory2, boost2, severe2

sitelen pona[edit | edit source]

The sitelen pona glyph for wawa (󱥵) represents a person raising their arms to signify strength or triumphance.

sitelen sitelen[edit | edit source]

The sitelen sitelen glyph for wawa (wawa) is borrowed from the Dongba symbols.[5] It is unknown, however, which glyph it originated from. The glyphs for fire or lightning may be possible origins.[6]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. "Word Origins". tokipona.org. Archived from the original on 8 August 2002.
  2. lipamanka. "toki pona dictionary". lipamanka.gay.
  3. jan Kekan San. "wawa - wawa_2" (all sentences, relative, window avg 2 smoothing, Aug 2016–Aug 2024). ilo Muni. GitHub. Retrieved 15 August 2024.
  4. Lang, Sonja. (18 July 2021). Toki Pona Dictionary. Illustrated by Vacon Sartirani. Tawhid. ISBN 978-0978292362. pp. 385–386.
  5. Jonathan Gabel. (25 October 2012). "sitelen sitelen acknowledgements and etymology". jonathangabel.com. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
  6. China National Body. (22 September 2017). "Revised chart of Naxi Dongba characters". www.unicode.org. Retrieved 14 August 2024.

Further reading[edit | edit source]