Dictionary - Earth Culture Roots

The Rasta and Jamaican Patois dictionary

Here is a first draw of our dictionary. If you want us to add a word this dictionary please mail us.

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.