jaki pona

en
hu

toki pona ("the language of good", "good language") is a minimalist constructed language created by Sonja Lang that was first published in 2001.

jaki pona ("the good sh*t") is a short overview of the language that comes with a dictionary (which is derived from lipu lili pi toki pona).

Basic Structure

toki pona has a 14 letter alphabet (a, e, i, j, k, l, m, n, o, p, s, t, u, w) which is used to create words by forming CVn (consonant, vovel, optional n) syllables. However, there are four forbidden pairings (ji, wo, wu and ti – the latter becomes si instead), and the word-initial consonant may be absent. Only proper names are capitalized, everything else is written in lower case.
Letters correspond to the sounds they mark in IPA, though additional voicing and some variations are allowed.

Sentences have a simple subject-verb-object word order. Subjects and the predicate (usually a verb; toki pona does not have a word for "to be", so the more generic term "predicate" will be used) are separated by the word li, unless the subject is only "mi" or "sina". Predicates and objects are separated by e. Predicates do not have a tense. Adjectives and adverbs, collectively called modifiers, go after the noun (as opposed to English).
Similar to prepositions, there are auxiliary- or pre-verbs that precede the verb or predicate. Usual examples are kama (will) or wile (need, must). There are no definite and indefinite articles.

mi loje.
(I am red.)

ona li loje.
(It is red.)

mi moku e pan.
(I eat bread.)

mi mute li lukin e tomo.
(We are watching the house.)

ona li tawa tomo.
(She is going home.)

ona li wile tawa tomo.
(It wants to go home.)

ona li wile e tomo tawa.
(She wants a car.)

ona li tomo tawa.
(He is a car.)

ona li tawa tomo tawa.
(They are going to [their] car.)

ona li tawa e tomo tawa.
(He moves the car.)

tomo tawa li tawa tomo.
(The car is going home.)

mi tomo tawa wile li wile tawa tomo mi.
(I am a wannabe car and [I] want to go to my apartment.)

Transliterating Names

Proper names should be transliterated to toki pona, following standard toki pona grammar. Proper names are treated as modifiers, hence the use of a noun in front if them is generally required. The following conventions are customary, although they are not hard rules:

  1. Number of syllables should remain the same.
  2. The letter 'r' should become l, w or k (depending on pronunciation).
  3. Dental fricatives ('th') becomes either s (when voiceless) or t (when voiced).
  4. Consonant clusters should either be split or reduced to a single consonant.
  5. Vowel clusters should become split into multiple syllables with added consonants.
  6. toki pona words should not be used as names (unless it is based on real name).

Sentence Types and Punctuation

Technically all punctuation marks are optional variants of the full stop (.) with the exception of the colon (:) and the comma (,). Using sitelen pona, no punctuation is used and each sentence is written on its own line. This is also done in chats and other informal settings, although colons are still used.

Declarative sentences are the default and should not need further explanation.

Question end with a question mark (?), and can be formed in three ways:

  1. Repeating the pre-verb or predicate, and putting an ala between them (yes-no question).
  2. Using seme in place of the thing you want to question (open ended question).
  3. Adding anu seme? at the end of the sentence (open ended or closed question), or having X anu Y in somewhere in the sentence (closed question).

To answer yes-no question, either the predicate (with or without subject) is repeated or ala is used; in case of closed questions, the correct option is repeated back. Open ended questions work similar to English.

sina lukin ala lukin e ona?
(Are you looking at him?)

[mi] lukin.
(Yes.)

mi lukin e ona.
(Yes in a longer way.)

sina lukin e ona anu seme?
(You are looking at him [or what]?)

[mi lukin e] ona.
(Yes.)

[mi lukin e ona] ala.
(No.)

sina lukin e ijo laso anu jelo?
(Are you look at the blue thing or the yellow thing?)

[mi lukin e ijo] jelo.
(The yellow [one].)

sina lukin e seme?
(What are you looking at?)

mi lukin e oko sina.
(I am looking at your eyes.)

seme li lukin e sina?
(Who is looking at you?)

jan Anon [li lukin [e sina]].
(Anon [is looking [at me]].)

sina seme e ona?
(What are you doing to him?)

[mi] sitelen [e ona]
([I am] drawing [him].)

The exclamation mark (!) is used in three different ways:

  1. To form imperative ("command") sentences, in which case, o is used in front of the verb and the subject may be ommitted; if it is not, then o replaces li and the sentence may express a wish or desire.
  2. To form interjections, like "moku pona!" (good appetite!).
  3. To emphasize a declarative sentence; this way it visually shows verbal emphasis.

o lukin e ona!
(Look at him!)

sina o lukin e ona!
(You, look at him!)

toki!
(Hi!)

tawa pona!
(Bye! [said by the one who stays])

mi tawa!
(Bye! [said by the one who leaves])

awen pona!
(Bye! [said by the one who leaves])

lape pona!
(Good sleeping!)

moku pona!
(Good appetite!)

Colons (:) are used when a preposition or e is followed by ni. These are used when the object is another sentence (in case of e), or in certain situations to form compound sentences. The most often used preposition in this case are tan ("because") and sama ("like, similar").

mi pilin pona tan ni: soweli suwi mi li mu.
(I feel good, because my cat is purring.)

jan Sotan li wile e ni: musi ona li pona tawa jan.
(Zotn wants people to like his music.)

ona li sona e tenpo sama ni: jan ale li tawa kon.
(She knows a time when everyone is flying.)

sina tawa sama ni: jan li wile pakala e sina.
(You are running as if people would want to hurt you.)

Commas (,) can be used freely to visually separate parts of a sentence, although customarily they are only put before prepositions, and either before or after la.

Negation and Order of Modifiers

Negation is almost exclusively expressed by using the word ala which is a modifier in this use.

Modifiers usually do not have a fixed order as it is context dependent, but generally ala would be the last modifier in a noun phrase or a modifier group (see Advanced Grammar), only followed by the possessor (theoreticaly; this is rather rare). However, its placement may vary depending on what and how we want to emphasize or connote.

mi loje ala.
(I am not red.)

mi ala li loje.
(Not-I is red.)

ona ala li loje ala.
(Not-it is not-red.)

mi moku e pan ala.
(I am not eating bread.)

jan ala pi sona mute
(No one of knowledge)

jan pi sona mute ala
(Human of no great knowledge)

jan pi sona ala mute
(Man of great lack-of-knowledge)

ona li tawa tomo ala.
(She is going not-home.)

ona li tawa ala tomo.
(She is not going home.)

ona li wile ala tawa tomo.
(It does not want want to go home.)

ona li wile e tomo tawa ala.
(She does not want a car.)

ni li kili laso ala.
(This is not a blue fruit.)

ni li kili ala laso.
(This is a blue thing [that is not a fruit].)

mi lon ala ma Amelica.
(I am not in the Americas.)

mi lon ma Mewika ala.
(I am in not in the USA. [but somewhere else].)

Prepositions and Conjunctions

Prepositions are followed by noun phrases (nouns and modifiers; along with the prepositions, they are called prepositional phrases) and they can be put after virtually any noun phrase (such as the subject or object) to modify or specify their meanings. There are 5 prepositions in toki pona, kepeken (with), lon (at), sama (like), tan (from, because) and tawa (to, for, going to). When these are used at the end of sentences, then their meaning may apply to the whole sentence as opposed to the (last) object; most often this is a 'lon' structure indicating physical locations or time.

Conjunctions, with the exception of taso, must be used along with la (see under Advanced Grammar), or they have special sentence structures. The following ones are available:

  • And
    • Between subjects, use en.
    • Between verbs, use li.
    • Betwen object, use e.
    • To apply it to the whole sentence (linking it to the previous one), begin the sentence with kin la (alternatively en la).
    • Between modifiers, use pi M1 en M2 (where M1 and M2 are the modifiers); this cannot be combined with multiple subjects!
  • Or
    • Same as "and", but always use anu.
    • Although ante la is used more often than anu la.
  • But
    • taso (as a conjunction) is used at the beginning of sentences and nowhere else.
    • To express things like "anything but…" and "except", structures like "ale en ona ala" (everything and not it) could be used.

mi en sina li tawa.
(You and I are walking.)

soweli suwi pi suli en laso li musi.
(The large and blue cats are playing.)

jan Sotan li pali li wile moku.
(Zotn is working and [is] hungry.)

ona li moku e pan e telo walo kiwen.
(He is eating bread and cheese.)

mi wile e musi anu lape.
(I want to enjoy life or sleep.)

ona li wile pali. ante la ona li kama nasa.
(She must work, otherwise she'd become crazy.)

mi wile pali e musi. taso mi jo e wawa ala.
(I want to make music, but I am exhausted.)

Time and Space

Talking about time and location ("space") are very similar: they both use primarily lon and they both can be used as the context in la phrases (see Advanced Grammar).

Time is expressed as a noun phrase using tenpo and modifiers. The most common ones are kama (for future), pini (for past), ni (for present), suno (for day/daytime) and pimeja (for night); "kama", "pini" and "ni" are often used in conjunction with the latter two.

ona li lape lon tenpo pimeja.
(She sleeps at night.)

ona li kama apeja lon tenpo suno ni.
(Today she is going to be miserable.)

tenpo kama la ona li tawa tomo pali.
(She will go to work.)

tenpo pini la ona li pali ala.
(She did not work before.)

taso tenpo ni la ona li moku.
(But she is [only] eating for now.)

Space works similar to time, although with more variance: instead of having a single noun, we can use ma (for place in general; also "outside") and tomo (for house/building or "inside") among others. Spatial nouns after lon mean current location, and direction if they are preceded by tawa:

insa
inside, within, among
poka
on the side, next to, besides
sewi
above
anpa
below, under
sinpin
in front, before
monsi
behind, at the back, after

soweli li lon insa tomo.
(The cat is in the house.)

soweli li lon poka pi jan lawa ona.
(The dog is next to its owner.)

soweli li lape lon soweli ante.
(The cat is sleeping on the dog.)

musi kiwen li lon supa lon sewi pi ilo pi sitelen tawa.
(The [cat] statue is on a shelf above the telly.)

soweli li lape lon anpa supa.
(The cat is sleeping under the bed.)

soweli li tawa monsi tomo.
(The cat goes behind the house [presumably to sleep].)

Numbers

Numbers are used less frequently than in most languages as there are only limited ways to express numbers over 10 and neither pronouns nor nouns are inherently singular or plural. There are 2 major systems of using numbers, that we will refer to as "short range" and "extended range", as well as a "mid range" which is commonly used (though mostly unrecognized):

Number Short range Mid range Extended range Note
ala 0, none 0, none 0
wan 1 1 1
tu 2 2 2
tuli 3 Archaic, it was removed from the dictionary early on.
po 4 Archaic, it was removed from the dictionary early on.
luka 5 5
mute 2+, plural 11+ 20
ale/ali all all 100, all Used for "all", "every" and "countless".

Numbers are modifiers that always go after the last modifier, but optionally before the first "pi" (see Advanced Grammar). Unlike other modifiers, pi is never used in front of them. Numbers without specific words for them are formed by adding them up, starting with the largest – this does not apply to short range since in that system only those single words are used. For example, "luka tu wan" is 8 (5 + 2 + 1), while "tu tu" is 4 (2 + 2).
Ordinal numbers are expressed using nanpa followed by the number and work the same as regular numbers.

soweli suwi tu wan
(Three cats)

soweli suwi tuli
(Three cats)

soweli suwi nanpa tu wan
(The third cat)

Advanced Grammar

pi is used to group modifiers. For example, "jan pona suli mute" would mean "big friends", but "jan pona pi suli mute" would mean "[a] very big friend".
When spatial nouns are used in prepositional phrases, a "pi" can be placed after the spatial noun if they are followed by more than one word.
Possessors are noun phrases that go after all the other modifiers. If the possessor is more than one word or could be mistaken for a regular modifier, put a "pi" in front of the possessor; the latter case is considered archaic.

soweli suwi mi
(my cat)

soweli suwi tu mi
(my two cats)

soweli suwi mute pi jan Sotan
(Zotn's cats)

soweli suwi jan
(humanoid cat OR a human's cat)

soweli suwi pi jan
(a human's cat)

The word la is used to separate context (or condition) and main sentence. The latter is a normal sentence, but the context can be virtually any phrase or a full sentence; most often it is a full sentence or a phrase denoting time or place.
Prepositional phrases may be placed in front of "la" to indicate that its meaning applies to the whole sentence, although the preposition itself may be dropped.

tenpo kama la mi pali mute.
(In the future, I shall work more.)

sina lon tomo la suno sewi li ken ala lukin e sina.
(If/when you are at home, the the Sun god is unable to see you.)

[lon] ma tomo Uso la jan moli li tawa sin.
(In Uso, dead people are walking again.)

toki pona li pona tawa mi.
(I like toki pona.)

mi la toki pona li pona.
(I like toki pona.)

Dictionary

Words in toki pona often have vague definitions, their meaning depending on the context they appear in. They are also quite flexible as to where and how they appear within a sentence; for example "kipisi" at first only had the definition of "to cut", but this meaning can be extrapolated to mean "cut" as an adjective, or "cutting" as a noun. In this dictionary, multiple meanings are listed for most words, however this does not mean that words without a definition as a noun cannot be use as one in the right context. Function (or grammatical) words are the only exceptions to this rule.

Abbreviations

n
noun
v
verb (either transitive or intransitive)
a
pre-verb or auxiliary verb
p
preposition
m
modifier (adjective or adverb)
f
function word (grammatical words)
#
numerical value
i
interjection
c
conjunction
l­a
meanings of the word if it stands alone before la
pu
current versions or alternatives of non-pu words
see
see also (very similar words, or was at one point merged with marked words)

Numbers following any of these letters mark alternative definitions.

A

a a
m­1 (emotional) emphasis
m­2 exaggeration, superlative (after adjectives)
i­ Ah! I got it! Hahaha! (as "a a a")
see­ kin

akesi akesi
n­1 reptile, amphibian
n­2 non-cute animal, monster (dialectal)
non-cute animal definition has been removed in the Toki Pona Dictionary.

ala ala
n­ nothing, no one, null, the lack of (something)
v­ deny
m­ no, not
#­ 0
i­ No!

alasa alasa
n­ hunting, searching
v­1 hunt, forage, gather
v­2 look for, search determinedly

ale/ali ale/ali
n­ everything, life, universe
m­ all, each, every, countless
#­1 all, countless amount
#­2 100
l­a all told, nevertheless, despite everything, either way
ale was the original, while ali was added in 2002 to avoid ambiguity with ala in speech.

anpa anpa
n­ bottom, below
v­1 kneel, bow, accept (the terms set by someone else)
v­2 defeat, beat, conquer, enslave
m­1 low, below, down, beneath
m­2 dependent

ante ante
n­ change, difference, diversity
v­ alter, change, convert, transform
m­1 different, altered, changed
m­2 other
l­a or, otherwise

anu anu
f­ or
l­a or

apeja apeja
n­ depression, abuse, shame, dishonor
v­ verbal attack, disgrace, depress
m­ shameful, dishonored, depressive
p­ ike, utala toki, toki anpa
Added in early 2010, but was not included in pu.

awen awen
n­ waiting, staying
v­1 wait, wait for (with "tawa"), stay, remain
v­2 keep something unchanged
a­ keep
m­ kept, protected (from change), remaining
l­a still

E

e e
f­1 separates the predicate and the object
f­2 and (if there are multiple objects)

en en
f­ and (between subject)
l­a and, moreover

esun esun
n­ business
v­ buy, do business
m­ financial, for sale

I

ijo ijo
n­ something, thing, object

ike ike
n­ bad(ness), evil
v­ ruin, spoil
m­ bad, negative, wrong, corrupted, evil
m­ non-trivial, complex
l­a sadly

ilo ilo
n­ tool, machine, device

insa insa
n­ inside
n­ stomach, organ
m­1 internal
m­2 inner, inside, center, between

J

jaki jaki
n­1 dirt, filth
n­2 garbage, waste, sh*t
v­ stain, defile, discard
m­ disgusting, toxic, unclean, stained

jan jan
n­ human, person
m­ humanoid, human-like

jelo jelo
m­ yellow

jo jo
v­ have, own, carry, contain

K

kala kala
n­1 aquatic animal
n­2 fish
m­ fish-like, aquatic

kalama kalama
n­ sound, noise, roar
v­ produce a sound, yell, bawl
m­ loud, audible

kama kama
a­ become, will, pursue actions to arrive to (a certain state), "future tense"
m­ to become, coming, arriving

kasi kasi
n­ plant, vegetation
m­1 plant-like
m­2 green (after kule)

ken ken
n­ ability, chance, possibility
a­ can, able to, allowed to
m­ able, possible, allowed

kepeken kepeken
p­ use, with
v­ use

kijetesantakalu kijetesantakalu
n­ animal from the Procyonidae family (such as raccoons and kinkajous)
pu­ soweli
Added as an April Fool's joke in 2009, now it is a "fan favorite".

kili kili
n­ fruit, vegetable, mushroom

kin kin
m­1 also, too, again
m­2 confirmation, emphasis (not as strong as a)
l­a also, and
see­ a

kipisi kipisi
v­ cut
pu­ tu
Presented along with namako and monsuta around 2010, not included in pu.

kiwen kiwen
n­1 metal, rock, stone
n­2 hard object
m­ hard, heavy
Originally wawa ma was used before this word was created.

ko ko
n­ semi-solid material, paste, powder, clay, dough

kon kon
n­1 air, breath
n­2 spirit, essence, meaning, sense, concept
n­3 mind, consciousness, soul
m­ air-like, gaseous

ku pu
n­ the Toki Pona Dictionary
v­ interacting with the Toki Pona Dictionary
m­ according to/as in/by the Toki Pona Dictionary

kule kule
n­ color
v­ color
m­ colorful, pigmented

kulupu kulupu
n­1 group, collection, set
n­2 community, nation, society

kute kute
n­ ear
v­ hear, listen to

L

la la
p­ separates the context and the main sentence

lanpan lanpan
v­ take, seize, steal, catch, receive
pu­ kama jo, alasa
It was coined by the community shortly after pu was released, making it one of the most used nimi sin.

lape lape
v­ sleep, rest

laso laso
m­1 blue
m­2 green

lawa lawa
n­1 head
n­2 leader
v­ lead, rule, manage, control, direct

leko leko
n­ square, block, stairs, edge
pu­ sike ala
Removed from then-official dictionary in 2004.

len len
n­1 cloth, fabric, textile
n­2 cover, layer
v­1 wear, cover
v­2 hide
m­1 clothed, covered, covering
m­2 hidden

lete lete
m­1 cold
m­2 raw, uncooked

li li
f­1 separates the predicate and the object
f­2 and (between predicates)

lili lili
m­1 small, little, short
m­2 young
m­3 a bit, slightly

linja linja
n­ hair, rope, thread
m­ long and flexible, rope-like

lipu lipu
n­ document, book, website, written record
m­1 flat, page-like
m­2 documented

loje loje
m­ red

lon lon
v­ place, put
m­ existing, real, factual, true
p­ located at, at the time of
i­ indeed, that's right
l­a actually, truly, in reality

luka luka
n­ upper or front limb (hand, arm)
m­ with hands, by hands
#­ 5

lukin lukin
v­1 look, see, examine, read, watch
v­2 (with tawa) search, look for, seek
a­ try to
m­1 visible, readable
m­2 seemingly, -looking (as in "good looking")
see­ oko
In pu, lukin and oko were merged and could be used interchangibly.

lupa lupa
n­ hole, orifice, window, door
v­ pierce, stab, dig
m­ full of holes, hollow

M

ma ma
n­1 land, country, place
n­2 earth, dry land, outdoor area
m­1 terrestrial
m­2 outside

mama mama
n­ parent, ancestor, origin, creator, caretaker
m­ predecessor, parental, original

mani mani
n­1 money, wealth
n­2 livestock
m­ valuable

meli meli
n­ woman, girl
m­1 female (of their species)
m­2 feminine

mi mi
n­ 1st person (I, me; we, us)
m­ my, mine; our, ours

mije mije
n­ male, boy
m­1 male (of their species)
m­2 masculine

moku moku
n­ food, meal, sustenance
v­ eat, drink, consume, inhale, swallow
m­ edible, nourishing

moli moli
n­ death
v­ murder, kill
m­ dying, dead, lethal, mortal, fatal, non-functional (permanently)

monsi monsi
n­ back, rear end
v­ retreat
m­ behind

monsuta monsuta
n­ monster
v­ fear, be afraid of
m­ frightening
pu­ ike, akesi, apeja
Added in 2010 along with kipisi and namako, not included in pu.

mu mu
n­1 animal noise
n­2 meaningless or incomprehensible talking
v­ make animal noises, speak incomprehensibly
m­ meaningless, incomprehensible, unintelligible
i­ animal vocalization (such as 'meow', 'moo', 'quack')

mun mun
n­ moon, star, celestial body
m­ lunar

musi musi
n­1 fun
n­2 art
v­1 play, have fun
m­ entertaining, artistic

mute mute
v­ multiply, extend
m­ many, a lot, more, much, very
#­1 many
#­2 20

N

namako namako
n­ addition, bonus, spice (for food)
m­ extra, additional
l­a additionally, furthermore
see­ sin
Added along with kipisi and monsuta in 2010. In pu, it was merged with sin.

nanpa nanpa
n­ number
f­ -th (ordinal number)

nasa nasa
v­ fool around
m­ unusual, strange, weird, crazy, intoxicated

nasin nasin
n­1 path, road
n­2 way, method
v­ follow, adopt

nena nena
n­ mountain, hill
n­ protuberance, bump
m­ bumpy, hilly, undulating

ni ni
n­ this, that
v­ point, refer to
m­ this, that
f­ that (like a conjunction, after e or a preposition)

nimi nimi
n­ name, word

noka noka
n­1 bottom or rear limb (foot, leg); organ of locomotion
v­ kick
m­1 on foot, by foot
m­2 lower (part)

O

o o
f­ marks imperative and vocative

oko oko
n­ eye
v­ look (but not see)
see­ lukin
It was merged with lukin in pu.

olin olin
n­ love, emotional affection
v­ love, adore

ona ona
n­ 3rd person (he, she, it, they)
m­ their, theirs (and all the others)

open open
n­ start, beginning
v­ open, activate, turn on
a­ begin, start
m­1 open, activated
m­2 available, ready

P

pakala pakala
n­1 damage, injury
n­2 error, bug, accident, mistake
v­ brake, damage
m­ broken, damaged, non-funcional
i­ dammit! shoot!

pake pake
v­ prevent, block, obstruct
Suggested by jan Sonja, never officially added (before ku).

pali pali
n­ work, job, process
v­ do, make, build, work (on)

palisa palisa
n­ rod, stick; long and solid object
m­ long and solid

pan pan
n­1 bread
n­2 cereal, corn, rice, grain

pana pana
v­1 give, send
v­2 share, publish, release

pi pi
f­1 separates modifier groups after the noun
f­2 (archaic) of

pilin pilin
n­1 feeling, emotion, instinct
n­2 heart (often after insa)
v­1 feel, smell, sense
v­2 guess, think (emotionally or subjectively)

pimeja pimeja
n­ darkness
v­ darken
m­1 black
m­2 dark, unlit

pini pini
n­1 end, finish
n­2 past
v­1 finish, end, stop, complete
v­2 deactivate
a­ finish, stop, "past tense"
m­ finished, past, former, ex-

pipi pipi
n­ insect, bug, spider

poka poka
n­1 side (of something)
n­2 hip
v­ approach, come near
m­1 near, by, next to
m­2 along with, together with
p­ (archaic) along with, at the side of, close to
While it is no longer used as a preposition, it used to contrast kepeken by poka meaning physical or ideological closeness, and kepeken meaning using/with an instrument or (as) a tool.

poki poki
n­ box, container, bag, bowl
v­ contain

pona pona
v­ help, repair, fix
v­ improve, upgrade
m­ good, nice, positive, friendly, useful, simple
i­ great! thanks!

powe powe
v­ deceive, pretend, cheat, trick
m­ false, untrue
pu­ lon ala, toki ike, ike
It was never added to any official dictionary (before ku).

pu pu
n­ the official Toki Pona book
v­ interacting with the official Toki Pona book
m­ according to/as in/by the official Toki Pona book

S

sama sama
m­ same, similar
f­ same as, equal to, like, akin to
l­a similarly, like

seli seli
n­ fire, heat, chemical reaction
v­ cook, bake, heat
m­ hot, warm, cooked

selo selo
n­ outer layer, shell, skin, wall, separator
v­ separate

seme seme
n­ what? who?
v­ does what?
m­1 which? what kind?
m­2 how?

sewi sewi
v­1 get up, arise, lift, raise up, win
v­2 ascend
m­1 above, upwards, elevated, superior
m­2 divine, sacred, holy, religious, supernatural

sijelo sijelo
n­1 body, main structure, main section
n­2 torso

sike sike
n­ round or circular object
v­ repeat, rotate
v­ form into a circle
m­ round, circular, spherical
m­ repeated(ly), again and again

sin sin
v­ renew, freshen, update
m­ new, fresh
see­ namako
This word was merged with namako in pu, although their uses remained largely separate.

sina sina
n­ 2nd person (thou, you)
m­ thy, thine; your, yours

sinpin sinpin
n­ face, front facing surface
m­1 front, frontal
m­2 facial

sitelen sitelen
n­ drawing, writing, picture, image, symbol, visual representation of something
v­ draw, write, paint
m­ written, drawn

soko soko
n­ mushroom, fungus
pu­ kili, kasi

sona sona
n­1 knowledge, data and information
n­2 intelligence, wisdom
v­ know, skilled in
m­ known
While factuality is usually implied with sona, it does not necessarily mean that the knowledge is reliable (use lon to mark factuality if needed).

soweli soweli
n­1 land animal
n­2 mammal
m­ wild, animalistic

su pu
n­ The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Toki Pona edition)
v­ interacting with the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Toki Pona edition)
m­ according to/as in/by the The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Toki Pona edition)

suli suli
m­1 big, large, heavy
m­2 adult
m­3 important

suno suno
n­1 Sun (celestial body)
n­2 light source
m­1 bright, lit, shining
m­2 gold (color, after kule)

supa supa
n­1 horizontal surface
n­2 thing to put or rest something on
v­ lie (down), lay (down)
m­1 resting
m­2 can be rested on

suwi suwi
n­ sweets
m­1 sweet
m­2 cute, adorable
m­3 innocent

T

tan tan
n­ reason, origin point
v­ cause
p­1 from, by
p­2 because (of), since

taso taso
m­ only
c­ but

tawa tawa
v­ move (something)
m­ moving
p­1 going to
p­2 for, to

telo telo
n­1 water
n­2 liquid
v­ water, wash
m­1 wet
m­2 liquid

tenpo tenpo
n­1 time, period

toki toki
n­1 speaking, verbal communication
n­2 language
v­1 say, talk, tell, communicate
v­2 think (rationally or objectively)
i­ hello!

tomo tomo
n­ house, room, indoor or enclosed space
n­2 home

tonsi tonsi
n­ non-binary, genderqueer, transgender
m­ gender-nonconforming
pu­ jan kule
This word was coined by the community shortly after pu was released.
"jan kule" is not a true alternative, but a broader term meaning "queer" (LGBTQ+).

tu tu
v­ cut
#­ 2
see­ kipisi
Only received it's "cut" meaning after kipisi's removal in pu.

U

unpa unpa
n­ sex, intercourse
v­1 have sex (with)
v­2 have marital relation with
m­ sexual, sexually
More generally could be defined as "performing the action necessary for reproduction, with or without the intent of reproducing".
Opinions vary about whether this word is purely used for its strictly sexual meaning, or could be applied to other, non-sexual activities and relationships.

uta uta
n­ mouth, lips
v­ kiss, lick
m­ oral

utala utala
n­ fight, battle, war
v­ battle, challenge, fight
m­ violent, aggressive, fighting

W

walo walo
m­1 white
m­2 light, pale
m­3 innocent, virgin

wan wan
m­ unique
#­ 1

waso waso
n­1 aerial animal (able to travel in the air by flying, gliding, etc.)
n­2 bird
m­ winged (animal), flying (creature)

wawa wawa
n­1 power, energy
n­2 magic
m­1 strong, powerful
m­2 energetic, intense
m­3 confident, sure

weka weka
v­1 make distance (from object); get away from, throw away, remove
v­2 ignore
m­1 away
m­2 ignored

wile wile
n­1 will, hope
n­2 urge, need
v­ want, need
a­ want, should, have to, must, need
m­1 wanted, desired
m­2 necessary, required

Y

yupekosi yupekosi
v­ to behave like George Lucas and revise your old creative works and actually make them worse
pu­ wile ike
"Nobody knows how to pronounce the y."[sic] – jan Sonja