| A | Are, of |
| All a dem | All of them. |
| Armageddon | The biblical final battle between the forces of good and evil. |
| Babylon | The corrupt establishment, the “system”, Church and State, the police, a policeman. |
| Back off | Take it easy, cool it. |
| Badda | Worse |
| Bag-o-wire | Betrayer. |
| Bambu | Rolling paper |
| Bandulu | Trick or fool someone. nah try fi bandulu me! |
| Batty bwoy, battie | Gay person. |
| Beenie | Little. |
| Binghi | Wise. |
| Bly | Chance. |
| Bobo | Member of the Bobo Dreads, a rasta brotherhood. |
| Bubble | To dance. |
| Bubbler | Dancer. |
| Bus water | Ejaculation. |
| Bwoy | Boy, person. |
| Callaloo | Spinach stew. |
| Chalice, chillum | a pipe for smoking herb, usually made from coconut shell or CHALEWA and tubing, used ritually by Rastas. |
| Clean di Rifle | Oral sex. |
| Cutchie | Pipe to smoke Cannabis. |
| Cuyah | Look at this |
| Dawta | Girl, woman, sister, girlfriend. |
| Degeh degeh | skimpy |
| Deh | There. |
| Dem | Them. |
| Di | The. |
| Don | Respected person. |
| Downpressor | Equivalent for oppressor. |
| Dread | Rasta, fellow. |
| Drop a fa shape | Not lookin good |
| Dub | A roots electronic music, created by skillful, artistic re-engineering of recorded tracks. |
| Dub plate | A pre-release copy of a record, often produced exclusively for a specific sound system. |
| Fi | To (before a verb). |
| Flash | Leaving. |
| Flash it | To allow. |
| Forward | To repeat. |
| Galang | move, go away |
| Ganja | Herb, cannabis. |
| Gimme | Give me. |
| Glimity, glamity | Virginal state. |
| Haffi | Have to. |
| Hail | A greeting. |
| Herb | Marijuana. |
| Hot steppa | Fugitive. |
| I | me |
| I and I | I, me, also me and you. |
| Iditation | Meditation. |
| Idren | Equivalent to brother, bredren for the Rastas |
| In nah, Inna | In the. |
| I-ney | Greetings, hail |
| Irie | Nice, pleasing. |
| Isms, skisms | Negative term denoting Babylon’s classificatory systems. |
| Ital | Stands for ” vital “, natural ie Ital vegan food, or Ital person. |
| I-thiopia | Stands for Ethiopia. |
| Jah | God, the Almighty. |
| Kali, Kooly | Marijana. |
| Kumina | Ecstatic dance for the purpose of communicating with ancestors. |
| Let off | To give something. |
| Lion | A righteous Dread, a great soul. |
| Manacles | Chains |
| Maroons | Free ex slaves black warrior-communities which successfully resisted British hegemony during eighteenth century and early nineteenth century. |
| Mawga | Skinny |
| Mi | I. |
| Nah | Not. |
| Natty, natty dread, natty congo | Dreadlocks, a person with dreadlocks. |
| Niyabinghi | ” Death to black and white oppressor “. Also kind of spirital drum music. |
| Niyah man | Wise man, same meanings that binghi man. |
| Nyam | To eat |
| Obeah | traditional African “science”, relating to matters of the spirit and spirits, spells, divinations, omens, extra-sensory knowledge, etc. |
| Oil | Sperm. |
| One love | a parting phrase, expression of unity. |
| Overstand | Understand. |
| Peel | To beg. |
| Politricks | Politics. |
| Pon | Upon. |
| Pum pum | Virgina, also female sex. |
| Rada | Rather. |
| Raggamuffin | Jamaican ghetto dweller. |
| Ras | A title used by Rastafarians meaning “lord” or “head”. |
| Rasta, Rastafarian | A follower of Marcus Garvey who worships the Almighty in the person of Haile Selassie, King of Ethiopia. |
| Rizzla | Brand of rollin paper. |
| Roots | Derived from the experience of the common people, natural indigenous, also a greeting, and name for a fellow Rasta. |
| Rude bwoy | A criminal, a hard hearted person, a tough guy. |
| Sata, satta | To meditate, rejice, give thanks and praise. |
| Secle | Cool. |
| Seen | I understand, I agree |
| Seen ? | Do you understand ? |
| Sinsemilla, sensi | Popular, potent, seedless, unpolinated female strain of marijuana. |
| Sista, Sister, sistren | Woman, girlfriend, Rastafarian woman. |
| Skank | to dance to reggae music, to move with cunning, ulterior motives. |
| Skettel | A very loose girl, a ho, Jezebel |
| Slackness | Lewd, vulgar lyrics popular in DJ singing. |
| Spliff | Large, cone-shaped marijuana cigarette. |
| Tan pon it long | Staying for a long time (sexual). |
| The I | You. |
| Upfull | Positive, encouraging |
| Winjy | Thin |
| Ya | You. |
| Yawd, Yawdi | Jamaican. |
| Youth | A child, a young man, an immature man. |
| Zion | Ethiopia, Africa, the Rastafarian holy land. |