Written by Kareem LaTouche and Vivienne Grant
I’ve been fortunate enough to bounce around this big beautiful world, but no matter where I go, the lilt of patois brings me right back to the feeling of how unique Jamaica is. It’s a language that carries our history, our humour, and our unwavering spirit. And the funny thing is, while these words are pure Jamaican gold, many of them got cousins in other Caribbean islands, even distant family ties stretching all the way back to West Africa.
Here are 20 essential patois (patwa) words you should know, and If you are interested in more words read our previous article on Jamaican patios.
The Characters You’ll Meet
- Coomu-coomu (adj): Someone so wrapped up in their own world, they couldn’t care less if the sky fell.
- Example: Nobody wanted him in their crew ’cause he was just too coomu-coomu. Always about him, never about us.
- Kumujin (adj): Selfish, someone who hoards knowledge or distorts information, and generally doesn’t trust people.
- Example: My Auntie Mae always warned me about them, said they don’t trust easy. “Watch out fi dem kumujin people, Kevin, dey will mek yuh run ’round in circles.”
- Ginal (n): A sweet-talker, a con artist, a scammer. In Jamaica, a ginal embodies the trickster spirit of Anansi, a folk hero from the Akan tribe in Ghana.
- Example: “Nah, man,” I told him, “Mi not going to a restaurant with you again. You are a typical ginal.”
Friendship and the Language of Love
Patois has a special way of expressing the bonds that hold us together.
- Mi G (n): A dear friend, a confidante, short for “my general.”
- Example: Just last week, I was looking for a new car, and who did I call? “I’m going to check mi G and ask him to accompany me to the car mart to help me decide which car to buy.”
- Spuggy (n): A term of endearment for a girlfriend, boyfriend, or lover, suggesting intimacy.
- Example: “I would love to give my Spuggy a new piece of jewelry for her birthday, but I cannot afford it right now.”
Food and Attitude: A Jamaican Combo
Our relationship with food is deep, like our article on Best Jamaican Dishes, and so are the words we use to describe how we approach it.
- Fingle / aka feel-up, feel-up (v): The Jamaican word for fondle; touching, examining, squeezing, or rubbing.
- Example: The vendor, tired of her tomatoes being manhandled, would shout, “Hey, gyal! Don’t you fingle mi tomatoes!”
- Wanga / aka Craven/long belly (adj): Refers to a person who is greedy, especially in terms of food.
- Example: I saw a wanga-gut man at a repast last month, his plate was a mountain!
- Fluxy: Something of inferior quality, unworthy.
- Example: The helper, under her breath, said, “Give your fluxy mangoes to your big shot friends.”
- Finicky (adj): Someone with peculiar habits, likes, and dislikes; choosy, sometimes an undercover snob.
- Example: You bring them a plate of good ol’ run-down, and they looking at it like it’s alien.
Banter: The Art of the Jamaican Tongue
Our conversations are full of life, and sometimes, a little playful jab.
- Deven: A Jamaicanised contracted English phrase expressing an irreversible decision; “Do not even” / “will never ever.”
- Example: “Mi deven want to see him at mi gate after he borrowed my rent money and he gave it to him side chick fi buy plane ticket to Miami.”
- Preke (n): Treating a person like a simpleton or an idiot.
- Example: Nobody likes to be a preke.
- Labrish (v): Usually associated with women, where they chat and exchange truths and lies without boundaries, covering any topic.
- Example: You can hear it bubbling up from a group of women under a mango tree, their voices rising and falling with the latest news.
When Behavior Goes Sideways
Not every word is sweet like sugarcane. Some describe less savory actions.
- Sheg (verb) / Shegrigs (noun): A deliberate and malicious act to hurt, get even, humiliate, or embarrass someone. The performer commits shegrigs.
- Example: It’s not just a mistake; it’s intentional nastiness.
- Kabba-kabba (n): Describes the lowest of the low in behavior; lacking in ambition, classless, shameless, and crude.
- Example: You don’t want to be called kabba-kabba.
- Kurru-kurru (adj): Describes non-ambitious persons, idlers, or a group of people with whom not many wish to associate or identify.
- Example: Every Friday, Mass Freddie and his kurru-kurru friends would gather in the square, harassing young women, picking fights, and begging for snacks.
When Trouble Comes Calling
Sometimes, things just go left, and we got words for that too.
- Bangarang (adj): Trouble, chaos, high-intensity cussing, pushing and shoving, even sporadic fights.
- Example: You hear a bangarang, you know to steer clear.
- Hell and powder house (adj):Insinuating a great deal of trouble, upheaval, and noise; far more extreme than bangarang.
- Example: It’s not just a skirmish; it’s a full-blown eruption.
The Element of Surprise
Life in Jamaica is full of unexpected moments.
- Blow wow!: An expression of surprise or an incredulous act.
- Example: Like when your cousin who never passed an exam suddenly gets a scholarship to medical school. Blow wow!
- Blurt naut: An expression of shock when hearing about or witnessing something unbelievable; also a “softening” of a Jamaican curse word.
- Example: It’s that moment your jaw drops.
- Baff hand: A clumsy person, also known as “2 lef’ han’,” who consistently displays poor execution of tasks.
- Example: Bless their hearts, but you wouldn’t trust them to carry a glass of water.
There you have it, these words carry the laughter, the struggles, the love, and the raw truth of who we are. So next time you’re on the island, listen closely. You might just catch a glimpse of the real Jamaica, one patois word at a time.
Did we leave off any word? Let me know in the comment section below.
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