Tok Pisin - Vocabulary

Vocabulary

Tok Pisin can sound very colourful in its use of words, which are derived from English (with Australian influences), indigenous Melanesian languages and German (part of the country was under German rule until 1914).

• as – bottom, cause, beginning (from "ass"/"arse"). "As ples bilong em" = "his birthplace"
• bagarap(im) – broken, to break down (from "bugger up") – also used in Papua New Guinea English in contexts that would be considered vulgar in other countries.
• bagarap olgeta – completely broken
• balus – bird (an Austronesian loan word) - by extension aeroplane
• belhat – angry (lit. "belly hot")
• belo – bell - as in "belo bilong lotu" = "Church bell". By extension lunch or midday break (from the bell rung to summon diners to the table). A fanciful derivation has been suggested from the "bellows" of horns used by businesses to indicate the lunch hour has been begun but this seems less likely than the straight forward derivation.
• bilong wanem? – why?
• bubu – grandparent, any elderly relation – also grandchild. Possibly from Hiri Motu – where it is a familiar form of tubu, as in tubuna or tubugu.
• diwai – tree, plant, stick etc.
• gat bel – pregnant (lit. "has belly"; pasin bilong givim bel = fertility)
• hamamas / amamas – happy
• hap – a piece of, as in "hap diwai" = a piece of wood. (from "half")
• haus – house or building
  • hausboi/hausmeri – a male/female domestic servant - hausboi (or haus boi) can also mean "servants quarters"
  • haus moni – bank (from "house money")
  • haus sik – hospital (from "house sick")
  • haus dok sik – animal hospital (from "house dog sick")
  • haus karai – place of mourning (from "house cry")
  • sit haus (vulgar, even in tok pisin) – toilet, also:
  • liklik haus – toilet
  • haus tambaran – traditional Sepik-region house with artifacts of ancestors or for honoring ancestors; tambaran means "ancestor spirit" or "ghost"
• hevi – heavy, problem. "Em i gat bigpela hevi" = "he has a big problem".
• hukim pis – to catch fish (from "hook")
• kaikai – food, eat (Austronesian loan word)
• kakaruk – chicken (probably onomatapoetic, from the crowing of the rooster)
• kamap – arrive, become (from "come up")
• kisim – get, take (from "catch them")
• lotu – church, from Fijian, but sometimes sios is used for "church"
• olsem wanem - what?
• manki – small boy, by extension, young man (Probably from the English jocular/affectionate usage "monkey", applied to mischievous children, although a derivation from the German "männchen", meaning "little man" has also been suggested)
• maski – it doesn't matter, don't worry about it (from German "macht nichts" = "it doesn't matter")
• manmeri – people
• maus gras – moustache (lit: "mouth grass").
• meri – woman (from the English name "Mary"). Also means female, e.g. "Bulmakau meri" (lit. "bull cow female") = cow.
• olgeta – all (from "all together")
• olsem wanem – how?, what's going on?
• pisin – bird (from "pigeon"). The homophony of this word with the name of the language has led to a limited association between the two; Mian speakers, for example, refer to Tok Pisin as "wan weng", literally "bird language".
• pasim – close, lock (from "fasten")
  • pasim maus – shut up, be quiet, i.e. "yu pasim maus" lit: "you close mouth" = "shut up!"
• paul – chicken, confused, i.e. "em i paul" = "he is confused"
• pikinini – child (from Pacific Pidgin English, but ultimately from Portuguese influenced Lingua franca, cf. pickaninny)
• raus, rausim ("rausim" is the transitive form) – get out, throw out, remove (from German "raus")
• rokrok – frog (probably onomatopoetic)
• sapos – if (from "suppose")
• save – know, to do habitually (from Pacific Pidgin English, but ultimately from Portuguese influenced Lingua franca, cf. "savvy")
• sit – remnant (from "shit")
• solwara – ocean (from "salt water")
• stap – be, live, stay (from "stop")
• susa – sister, though nowadays very commonly supplanted by "sista". Some Tok Pisin speakers make an additional distinction where a "barata" is a woman's sister.
• susu – milk, breasts, from Malay
• tambu – forbidden, from "taboo", but also means "in-laws" (mother-in-law, brother-in-law, etc.) and other relatives whom one is forbidden to speak to, or mention the name of, in some PNG customs.
• tasol – but, only (from "that's all")