A :prep. to as in "go a shop," from Spanish

A GO : aux w/v. going to do, as in "Me a go tell him"

A DOOR : outdoors.

ACCOMPONG : n. name of Maroon warrior, Capt. Accompong,brother of Cudjo; also name of town.
From the Twi name for the supreme deity

ACKEE : n. African food tree introduced about 1778. FromTwiankye or Kru akee

AGONY : the sensations felt during sex

ALIAS : adj. (urban slang) dangerous, violent

AN : and

ARMAGEDDON : the biblical final battle between the forces of good and evil

ASHAM : n. Parched, sweetened, and ground corn. From twiosiam

BABYLON : 1. the corrupt establishment, the "system",Church and State 2. the police, a policeman

BAD : good, great

BADNESS : hooligan behavior, violence for its own sake

BAFAN : clumsy; awkward

BAFANG : a child who did not learn to walk the 1st 2-7 years.

BAG-O-WIRE : a betrayer

BAGGY : underpants for a woman or child.

BALMYARD : n. place where pocpmania rites are held, healing is done, spells cast or lifted

BAKRA : white slavemaster, or member of the ruling class in colonial days. Popular etymology: "back raw"
(which he bestowed with a whip.)

BALD-HEAD : a straight person; one without dreadlocks; one who works for babylon

BAMBA YAY : by and by

BAMBU : rolling paper

BAMMY : a pancake made out of cassava, after it has been grated and squeezed to remove the bitter juice.

BANDULU : bandit, criminal, one living by guile a BANDULU BIZNESS is a racket, a swindle.

BANGARANG : hubbub, uproar, disorder, disturbance.

BANKRA : a big basket, including the type which hangs over the sides of a donkey.

BANS : from bands; a whole lot, a great deal, nuff, whole heap.

BAT : butterfly or moth. English bat, the flying rodent, is a rat-bat.

BATTY : bottom; backside; anus.

BATTYBWOY : a gay person

BEAST : a policeman

BEX : vex (verb), or vexed (adjective).

BHUTTU (BUHTUH) : an uncouth, out of fashion, uncultured person
Use: Wey yu a go inna dem deh cloze? Yu fayva buttu

BISSY : cola nut.

BLY : chance, "must get a bly", "must get a chance".

BOASIE : adj. proud, conceited, ostentatious. Combination of English boastful and Yoruba bosi-proud and
ostentation.

BOBO : fool.

BRAA : from BREDDA; brother.

BRAATA : a little extra; like the 13th cookie in a baker'sdozen;or an extra helping of food. In musical shows it has come to be the encore.

BREDREN : one's fellow male Rastas

BRINDLE : to be angry.

BRINKS : title given to a man who is supplying a woman with money

BUBU : fool.

BUCKY : home-made gun

BUFU-BUFU : fat, swollen, blubbery; too big; clumsy or lumbering.

BUGUYAGA : a sloppy, dirty person, like a bum or tramp.

BULL BUCKA : a bully

BULLA : a comon sugar and flour cookie or small round cake, sold everywhere in Jamaica.

BUMBA CLOT, (TO GET) BUN : to have one's spouse or girl/boy-friend cheat on oneself, to be cheated out of something

RAS CLOT, BLOOD CLOT : curse words

BUMBO : bottom; backside. A common curse word, especially in combination with CLOT (cloth), a reference to the days before toilet paper.

BUNGO : n. racially pejorative. Crude, black, ignorant, boorish person. From Hausa bunga-bumpkin, nincompoop

BUNKS : to knock or bump against, from "to bounce",

BUNKS MI RES, catch my rest, take a nap.

BUPPS : Sugar daddy, Man who provides for women financially. Usually a woman uses a bupps.

(THE) CAT : a woman's genital

CARD : to fool someone

CEASE & SEKKLE! : stop everything and relax !

CERACE : a ubiquitous vine used for boiling medicinal tea, and for bathing. It is proverbial for its itterness.

CHA ! or CHO ! : a disdainful expletive pshaw ! very common, mild explanation expressing impatience, vexation or disappointment.

CHAKA-CHAKA : messy, disorderly, untidy.

CHALICE or CHILLUM : a pipe for smoking herb, usually made from coconut shell or CHALEWA : and tubing, used ritually by Rastas

CHEAP : just as cheap, just as well.

CHIMMY : chamber pot.

CHO : very common, mild explanation expressing impatience, vexation or disappointment.

CLAP : hit, break, stride

CLOT : 1. cloth, an essential part of most Jamaican bad words, such as bumbo clot, rass clot, blood clot, etc.
The essence of Jamaican cursing seems to be nastiness, rather than the blashemy or sexuality which is
characteristic of the metropolitan countries. 2. to hit or strike - from the verb "to clout".

COCO : a potato-like edible root, known elsewhere as the taro or the eddo. It was brought to Jamaica from the South Pacific. This is completely distinct from cocoa, usually called chocolate.

COIL : money

COME DUNG : come down, get ready (as to prepare to play a tune)

COME EEN LIKE : to seem as if; to resemble.

CONTROL : to be in charge of, responsible for, to own; to take

COO 'PON : v. (origin unclear) Look upon !

COO YAH : v. (origin unclear) Look here !

COOL RUNNINGS : a greeting; things are going smoothly

COOLIE : the traditional Jamaican epithet for East Indians. It is never used It is never used for Chinese Jamaicans. Usually in the form coolie-man or coolie-oman. It is not considered polite today anymore than the termnega, but it is still used widely in rural areas.
n. (urban slang) ganja

CORK UP : jammed, filled, crowded

CORN :

1. marijuana

2. money

3. a bullet

COTCH : verb (cotch up), to support something else, as with a forked stick; to balance something or place it
temporarily; to beg someone a cotch, can be a place on a crowded bus seat or bench; or it may mean to cotch a
while, to stay somewhere temporarily.

COTTA : a roll of cloth or vegetation placed on top of the head to cushion the skull from the weight of a head load.

CRAB : aside from it's usual meaning, it is a verb meaning to scratch or claw.

CRAVEN : greedy

CRIS : crisp; popularly used for anything brand-new, slick-looking.

CRISSARS : crisp, brand-new

CROMANTY : adj. from Corromantee, Blacks from the Gold Coast believed to be rebellious

CROSSES : problems, vexations, trials; bad luck, misfortunes.

CRUCIAL : serious, great, "hard,", "dread"

CUBBITCH : covetous.

CUDJO : n. name of famous Maroon warrior; mn born on Monday, from Fante, Twi kudwo

CULTURE : reflecting or pertaining to the roots values and traditions highly respected by the Rastas

CUSS-CUSS : a quarrel or fracas, with lots of cursing.

CUT YAI : to cut your eye at somebody is a very common means of expressing scorn or contempt, for example; one catches the other person's eye, then deliberatly turns one's own eyes as an insult.

CUTCHIE : pipe for communal smoking.

CYAAN : cannot, can't

D.J. : a person who sings or scats along with dub music, sometimes called "toasting"

DAAL : split peas, usually a thick soup, from Indian cuisine, from Hindi.

DADA : father

DALLY : executive zig-zag movements on wheels or on foot to ride a bicycle or motorbike with a weaving motion, as when ones weaves around potholes.

DAN DADA : the highest of DON'S

DAN : than

DARKERS : sunglasses

DASHEEN : a big soft yam-like root, often slightly greyish when cooked. It is related to the coco, but one eats the "head" instead of the tubers.

DAWTA : a girl, woman, "sister," girlfriend

DEADERS : meat, meat by-products

DEESTANT : decent.

DEGE or DEGE-DEGE : adjective, little, skimpy, measly, only, as in a two dege-dege banana.

DEH : there (place)

DEY : v. to be, exist, as in "No yam no dey". From Ewe de or Twi de - to be

DI : the

DINKI : a kind of traditional dance at funerals or "nine nights" ("set-ups"); now popular among school children.

DIS or DIS YA : this

DJEW : as a verb, rain a djew; as a noun, djew rain. It means a light rain or drizzle.

DOGHEART : a person who is especially cold and cruel

DOLLY : executive zig-zag movements on wheels

DON : one who is respected, master of a situation

DONKYA : from "don't care"; careless, sloppy, lacking ambition, etc...

DOONDOOS : an albino.

DOWNPRESSOR : preferred term for oppressor

(TO) DRAW CARD : the act of fooling someone

DREAD :

1. a person with dreadlocks

2. a serious idea or thing

3. a dangerous situation or person

4. the "dreadful power of the holy"

5. experientially, "awesome, fearful confrontation of a people with a primordial but historically denied racial selfhood"

DREADLOCKS :

1. hair that is neither combed nor cut

2. a person with dreadlocks

DREADY : a friendly term for a fellow dread

DUB : a roots electronic music, created by skillful, artistic re-engineering of recorded tracks

DUCK-ANTS : white ants, or termites.

DUKUNU : sweet corn-meal dumplings boiled in wrapped leaves.

DUNDUS : an albino.

DUNGLE : n. legendary West Kingston slum surrounding a garbage dump, now cleared.: From English dunghill

DUNS,DUNSA : money

DUPPY : a ghost

DUTCHY : dutch cooking pot, low round-bottomed heavy pot.

EASE-UP : to forgive, to lighten up

EVERYTING COOK & CURRY : all is well, all is taken care of

FAS' : to be fast with, meaning to be rude, impertinent, to meddle with sombody's business, to be forward...

FASSY : eczema-like scratchy sores on the skin; also a verb meaning to cause oneself to be covered with
fassy by scratching.

FAYVA : to favour, resemble, or look like; "fayva like" also means "it seems as if".

FE : the infinitive "to" as in "Have fe go"

FEEL NO WAY : don't take offense, don't be sorry, don't worry

FENKY-FENKY : (from finicky) choosy, proud, stuck-up.

FENNEH : v. to feel physical distress, pain. From Twi fene-to vomit; Fante fena-to be troubled; Lumba
feno-to faint

FI : possessive. "fi me"-"mine"

FIESTY : impudent, rude, out of order, cheeky.

FIRST LIGHT : tomorrow

(HIM A) FISH : a gay person

FIT : when used of fruits and vegetables, it means ready to pick, full grown, though not necessarily fully ripe.

FORWARD :

1. to go, move on, set out

2. in the future

FRONTA : tobacco leaf used to roll herb

FUCKERY : wrong, unfair

FULLNESS, TO THE FULLNESS : completely, absolutely, totally

FUNDS : Money

GAAN TO BED : an adverbial phrase; following a verb of liking or loving, it has a superlative meaning; Can be used in any context, such as "I love hafu yam gaan to bed!".

GANJA : herb, marijuana

GANSEY : t-shirt, any knit shirt

(TO) GET SALT : to be thwarted, to encounter misfortune

GATES : home, yard

GENERAL : cool operator

GIG : spinning top.

GINNAL : n. trickster, con-man, an Amnancy figure as in "Sunday Ginnal"-a preacher or clergyman

GLAMITY : a woman's genitals

GORGON : outstanding dreadlocks

(DON) GORGON : outstanding dreadlocks, a person who is respected

GRAVALICIOUS : greedy, avaricious.

GRINDSMAN : one who displays great prowess in bed

GROUNATION : large, island-wide meeting and celebration of Rastas

GROUND : home, yard

HACKLE : to hassle, bother, worry, trouble. As a noun, hackling.

HAFFI : to have to...

HAIL : a greeting

HARD : excellent, proficient, skillful, uncompromising

HEETCH : itch. Many such words could be listed under H, as initial H is added to scores of words at will.

HEAD MAN JANCRO : n. albino buzzard

HERB : marijuana

HIEZ-HAAD : ears-hard, thick skulled, stubborn, unwilling or unableto hear.

HIEZ : ears.

HITEY-TITEY : upper class, high tone, "stoosh".

HOOD : penis.

HORTICAL (DON) : respected, acclaimed

HOT-STEPPER : fugitive from jail or gun court

I-MAN : I, me, mine

I-NEY : a greeting

I-REY : 1. a greeting 2. excellent, cool, highest

I-SHENCE : herb

I-TAL : vital, organic, natural, wholesome; refers to way of cooking and way of life in colors, red, green and gold. I : replaces "me", "you", "my"; replaces the first syllable of seleted words. I and I, I&I: I, me, you and me, we. Rastafari speech eliminates you, me we, they, etc., as divisive and replaces same with communal I and I.
I and I embraces the congregation in unity with the Most I (high) in an endless circle of inity (unity).

IEZ-HAAD : ears-hard, thick skulled, stubborn, unwilling or unable to hear.

IEZ : ears.

ILIE : adj. literally, "highly", valuable, exalted, even sacred

IGNORANT : short-tempered, easy to vex, irate.

INNA DI MORROWS : tomorrow

INNA : In the

IRIE : adj. powerful and pleasing

ISMS and SKISMS : negative term denoting Babylon's classificatory systems

ITES :

1. the heights

2. a greeting

3. the color red great

JA, JAM-DOWN : Jamaica

JACKASS ROPE : homegrown tobacco, twisted into a rope.

JAH KNOW : Lord knows

JAH : God; possibly derived as a shortened form of Jahweh or Jehovah Jah Ras Tafari, Haille Selassie, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, conquering Lion of Judah; rastas revere Haile Selassie as the personification of the Almighty

JAMDUNG : Jamaica, "Jam" to press down "dung" down. Ironic reference to social and economic conditions of the masses

JAMMIN : to be having a good time, to be dancing calypso/soca

JANCRO : n. literally John Crow, buzzard

JANGA : shrimp, crayfish.

JELLY : a young coconut, full of jelly.

JON CONNU : n. (John Canoe). Bands of elaborately masked dancers appearing around Christmas. They ressemble the ancestral dancers of West Africa, but the ety. of the word is unclear.

JOOK : to pierce or stick, as with a thorn or a long pointed stick.

JUDGIN' : adjective, everyday or ordinary clothes or shoes worn in the yard or in the bush, as in "judgin' boot". Also as a verb, to judge, with a similar meaning.

JUU : as a verb, rain a juu; as a noun, juu rain. It means a light rain or drizzle.

KALI; COOLY : marijuana

KALLALOO : a dark, green leafy vegetable, very nutritious and cheap.

KASS KASS : n. quarrel or contention. From combination of English curse or cuss, and Twi kasa kasa-to dispute verbally

KATA : a roll of cloth or vegetation placed on top of the head to cushion the skull from the weight of a head load.

KEMPS : a little bit, a tiny piece, from skimps.

KISS ME NECK ! : common exclamation of surprise.

KISS TEET : to kiss one's teeth or to suck one's teeth is to make the very common hissing noise of disappoval, dislike, vexation or disappointment.

KOUCHIE : bowl of a chalice or chillum pipe

KRENG-KRENG : an old-fashioned meat rack, hung up high over the fire to catch the smoke.
KU DEH ! : look there !

KU PAN : look at.

KU YA ! : look here !

KU : verb, look !

KUMINA : n. Ecstatic dance for the purpose of communicating with ancestors. From Twi akom-to be possessed and ana-by an ancestor.

KYA :

1. to care; "donkya", don't care, careless; "no kya" means no matter, as in "no kya weh im tun", no matter where he turns.

2. to carry.

KYAAN : can't.

KYAI : to carry.

KYAN : can.