Animals
This is a description of animal words in Toki Pona.
Animals in general
[edit | edit source]In many speakers' usage, there is no hypernymous word to refer to all animals in general. While some extend soweli ("land mammal") to have this meaning, other experienced speakers reject that usage.
This arguably contrasts with the principle of, for example, kili referring to all fruit and requiring the speaker to specify by coming up with a spontaneous, contextually appropriate description of the specific fruit.
For those who avoid broadening soweli, Toki Pona uses one of a set of animal words that specify additional features while remaining vague enough to describe most animals. This has been criticized for creating classificatory edge cases and forcing speakers to consider irrelevant details that may be considered against the spirit of Toki Pona.[1] This semantic split, as well as the initially jocular coinage of kijetesantakalu (a hyperspecific word for "raccoon"), have also led to proposals for other specific animal words that have not entered general use.
Core and widespread words
[edit | edit source]akesi
[edit | edit source]  | |
| Pronunciation | /ˈa |
|---|---|
| Usage | 2025: Core (99% → )2024: Core (99% → )2023: Core (99% ↗︎ )2022: Core (98%) |
| Book and era | nimi pu |
| Part of speech | Content word |
| Codepoint | U+F1901 |
akesi is a core word relating to herptiles, that is, reptiles and amphibians. Originally, it meant "non-cute animal", however, this sense was deprecated in Toki Pona Dictionary.[2]
kala
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| Pronunciation | /ˈka |
|---|---|
| Usage | 2025: Core (99% → )2024: Core (99% → )2023: Core (99% → )2022: Core (99%) |
| Book and era | nimi pu |
| Part of speech | Content word |
| Codepoint | U+F1914 |
kala is a core word relating to fish and other marine or swimming creatures.
kijetesantakalu
[edit | edit source]  | |
| Pronunciation | /ˈki |
|---|---|
| Usage | 2025: Common (76% ↗︎ )2024: Common (75% → )2023: Common4, Widespread6 (75% ↗︎ )2022: Widespread (73%) |
| Book and era | nimi ku suli (pre-pu) |
| Part of speech | Content word |
| Codepoint | U+F1980 |
kijetesantakalu is a common word and nimi ku suli relating to procyonids, such as raccoons or kinkajous, or more broadly to musteloids, such as weasels or red pandas.
jan
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| Pronunciation | /jan//j/ sounds like English Y, as in "fjord" or "hallelujah". |
|---|---|
| Usage | 2025: Core (100% → )2024: Core (100% → )2023: Core (100% ↗︎ )2022: Core (99%) |
| Book and era | nimi pu |
| Part of speech | Content word |
| Codepoint | U+F1911 |
jan is a core word relating to humans, sometimes used for "people" as a whole.
pipi
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| Pronunciation | /ˈpi |
|---|---|
| Usage | 2025: Core (99% → )2024: Core (99% → )2023: Core (99% ↗︎ )2022: Core (98%) |
| Book and era | nimi pu |
| Part of speech | Content word |
| Codepoint | U+F1951 |
pipi is a core word relating to bugs or insects.
soweli
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| Pronunciation | /ˈso |
|---|---|
| Usage | 2025: Core (100% → )2024: Core (100% → )2023: Core (100% → )2022: Core (100%) |
| Book and era | nimi pu |
| Part of speech | Content word |
| Codepoint | U+F1962 |
soweli is a core word relating to animals, specifically land animals and beasts.
waso
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| Pronunciation | /ˈwa |
|---|---|
| Usage | 2025: Core (99% ↘︎ )2024: Core (100% ↗︎ )2023: Core (99% → )2022: Core (99%) |
| Book and era | nimi pu |
| Part of speech | Content word |
| Codepoint | U+F1974 |
waso is a core word relating to flying and winged animals, including but not limited to birds. It also includes other animals, such as bats and pterodactyls.
Edge cases
[edit | edit source]Since the semantic spaces of words often overlap and depend on the speaker, there are some edge cases for some animals. For example:
- Armadillos are perceived as scaly over fuzzy, leading to some people describing them as akesi over soweli, especially when using their armor as defense against predators.
- Elephants, rhinoceroses, and hippopotamuses are not particularly hairy and have thickened, scaly skin, but tend to be described as soweli over akesi.
- Ostriches and emus are unable to use their wings as a primary means of movement and have adapted to living on the ground while moving around very fast, leading speakers to describe them as soweli over waso.
- Penguins are also unable to use their wings as a primary means of movement in air and they have instead adapted to swimming. They may be described as kala.
See also
[edit | edit source]References
[edit | edit source]- ↑ XerographicPaper (20 June 2025). "Why I DON'T Like Toki Pona". XerographicPaper [@XerographicPaper]. YouTube. Retrieved 24 June 2025.
- ↑ Lang, Sonja. (18 July 2021). Toki Pona Dictionary. Illustrated by Vacon Sartirani. Tawhid. ISBN 978-0978292362. p. 13.
