Jamaican Patois dictionary

English-lexifier creole of Jamaica with West African (largely Akan) substrate. Pre-verbal markers carry tense and aspect ('a' progressive, 'did/en' past, 'wi' future, 'done' completive); 'a' is the equating copula; 'nuh' negates.

Entries

2679

English forms indexed

1263

Jamaican Patois forms

2866

Longest phrase

6 words

80 results

wah gwaan interj casualstreet

hello, hi, hey

Also: yow · wagwan · bless up

Literally 'what is going on'

Wah gwaan, mi bredrin
Hello, my friend

gud mawnin interj polite

good morning

gud nite interj polite

good night

how yu deh phrase

how are you, how are you doing

Also: wah gwaan · how yu a keep

mi deh yah phrase

i am fine, i am well, i am good

Also: everyting criss · mi good

'mi deh yah' — literally 'I am here', i.e. holding on

walk gud interj

goodbye, bye, see you later

Also: lata · likkle more

'walk gud' is a blessing on the departing person

pliiz interj

please

Also: beg yu

tank yu interj

thank you, thanks

Also: big up · respect

sorry interj

sorry, excuse me

Also: beg yu pardon

wah wh

what

Wah dis?
What is this?

wa mek wh

why

Also: how come

ow wh

how

Also: how

weh wh

where

Also: wehpaat

a who wh

who

Also: who

wen wh

when

which wan wh

which

nyam v

eat, eats, ate, eaten

Also: eat

'nyam' from Wolof/Fula; more emphatic than 'eat'

food n

food, meal

Also: vittle

drink v

drink, drinks, drank

wata n

water

money n

money, cash

Also: paper · corn · bread

wuk v

work, works, worked, job

Also: hustle

go v

go, goes, went

Also: gwaan

come v

come, comes, came

lef v

leave, left, depart

run v

run, ran, flee

walk v

walk

seh v

talk, speak, spoke, say, said

Also: chat · talk

Wah yu seh?
What did you say?

tell v

tell, told

hear v

hear, heard

si v

see, saw, seen, look

know v

know, knew, known

ovastan v

understand, understood

Also: undastan

Rastafari word-play: 'over-stand' replaces 'under-stand'

waan v

want, wants, wanted

like v

like, likes, enjoy

love v

love, loves

gi v

give, gave, given

Also: give

tek v

take, took, taken

bring v

bring, brought

buy v

buy, bought

sell v

sell, sold

pay v

pay, paid

help v

help, helps, helped, assist

wait v

wait, waits, waited

stap v

stop, stops, stopped

staat v

start, begin, began

finish v

finish, finished, complete

Also: done

duh v

do, does, did, done

Also: do

mek v

make, makes, made

get v

get, got, gotten, obtain

have v

have, has, had, own

'it have' also stands in for 'there is'

look fi v

look for, search, seek

fine v

find, found, discover

tink v

think, thought, believe

figet v

forget, forgot, forgotten

memba v

remember

sleep v

sleep, slept

wake up v

wake up, awake

siddown v

sit, sat

stan v

stand, stood

laff v

laugh, laughed

cry v

cry, cried, weep

Also: bawl

bawl out v

shout, scream, yell

fight v

fight, fought

lick v

beat, hit, strike

Also: beat

'gi him a lick' = hit him

tief v

steal, stole, stolen

lie v

lie, lied

dead v

die, died, dead

kill v

kill, killed

married v

marry, married

man n

man, men

Also: bredda · yute · broda · mon

uman n

woman, women

Also: dawta · empress

bwoy n

boy, boys

Also: yute · likkle bwoy

gyal n

girl, girls

Also: dawta

pickney n

child, children, kid, kids

Same Portuguese root as Nigerian Pidgin 'pikin'

bredrin n

friend, friends

Also: fren · sistren · idren

'bredrin'/'sistren' are Rastafari-derived and now general

bredda n

brother

sista n

sister

madda n

mother, mom, mum

Also: mumma

fadda n

father, dad

Also: puppa

On spelling: Two traditions exist: the phonemic Cassidy-JLU spelling (e.g. 'Jamiekan') and the English-influenced spelling most writers actually use (e.g. 'Jamaican'). This engine writes the English-influenced tradition, which diaspora readers parse fastest.

Sources

Cassidy, F. & Le Page, R. (1980) Dictionary of Jamaican English
Patrick, P. (2004) Jamaican Creole morphology and syntax
Jamaican Language Unit (UWI Mona) writing system guidance