Jamaican Patois takes most of its vocabulary from English, but a core of everyday words comes from the languages of West and Central Africa, especially Akan (Twi) from present-day Ghana, Igbo from Nigeria, and Kikongo from the Congo region. Some origins are certain. Many more are probable, and some popular ones are guesses. Beyond single words, African languages left an even deeper mark on Patois grammar, sounds and body language.
This article only gives etymologies that scholars broadly accept, and says plainly where the origin is uncertain. The standard reference is Cassidy and Le Page's Dictionary of Jamaican English; F. G. Cassidy's Jamaica Talk and the work of Mervyn Alleyne, including Roots of Jamaican Culture (1988), are also key sources.
Why these languages?
The African languages that shaped Patois reflect where enslaved people were taken from. Large numbers came from the Gold Coast, where Akan languages were spoken, and from the Bight of Biafra, where Igbo was spoken. Many others came from West Central Africa and other regions. Akan's influence was amplified by the Maroons, whose communities preserved Akan names and a ritual language, Kromanti. After emancipation, indentured Central Africans added Kikongo words, many of them kept alive in the Kumina religious tradition. See the history of Jamaican Patois for the wider story.
Words with well-accepted African origins
| Word | Meaning | Origin |
|---|---|---|
| unnu | you all (plural you) | Igbo unu, "you (plural)". One of the clearest cases. |
| Anansi | the spider trickster of Jamaican folk tales | Akan Ananse, "spider". The stories came from Akan tradition too. |
| fufu | pounded starchy food, such as yam | Akan (Twi) fufu. |
| dokunu (also duckunoo, blue draws) | a sweet pudding boiled in banana leaf | Akan (Twi) dɔkono, a related boiled corn food. |
| pinda | peanut | Kikongo mpinda, "peanut". The same word gave American English "pinder". |
| bakra (buckra) | a white person; historically, the master or planter class | Generally traced to Efik/Ibibio mbakara. |
| Cudjoe, Quashie, Cuffee | personal names | Akan day names (Kojo, Kwasi, Kofi) for children born on a given day of the week. Cudjoe led the Leeward Maroons. Quashie later became a dismissive word for a country person. |
Words that are probably African
| Word | Meaning | What's known |
|---|---|---|
| nyam | eat; also, of food, delicious | Very likely West African. Similar words exist in several West African languages, for example in Fula ("eat") and Wolof ("taste"), so a single source is hard to pin down. The same root is usually linked to the English word yam. |
| ackee | the national fruit | The tree came from West Africa in the 1700s, and the name is generally taken to be West African too, though which language is uncertain. |
| callaloo | steamed leafy greens | Often thought to have West African roots; other sources have also been proposed, so the origin is debated. |
Come nyam some food.
Come and eat some food.
Unnu come yah!
You all, come here!
Words whose origin is debated
- Duppy (ghost, spirit of the dead; JLU dopi). Almost certainly African in origin, but scholars haven't agreed on the source language. Treat any single confident etymology you see online with caution.
- Obeah (an African-derived spiritual and healing practice, often associated with sorcery in popular talk). Proposed sources include words from Akan and from Igbo or neighbouring languages. The debate is unresolved.
- Jonkanoo (the Christmas masquerade). The tradition has West African roots, but the origin of the name is disputed, with several competing theories.
African patterns in the grammar
For many linguists, the strongest African influence isn't in the words at all. It's in how sentences are built. Patterns in Patois that differ from English and resemble West African languages include:
- A plural "you". Unnu fills a gap English left empty.
- Plural with "dem" after the noun. Di pickney dem (the children). Several West African languages mark plurals with a word related to "they".
- Adjectives as verbs. Di food ready, with no "is", much as in many West African languages.
- Separate "be" words for identity and location. A (mi faada a fisherman) versus deh (mi deh yah).
- Serial verbs. Chained verbs with no "and": Tek di money go buy bread.
- Focus by fronting. A di dog nyam di food (it was the dog that ate the food).
- Reduplication. Doubling for emphasis or a new meaning: busy busy (very busy), chaka-chaka (messy), fenke-fenke.
- "Seh" meaning "that". Shi tink seh di food done (she thinks that the food is done). This use of a word for "say" is often compared with Akan, though similar patterns occur elsewhere.
How much of this comes from specific African languages, and how much from the general way creole languages form, is a genuine scholarly debate. What isn't debated is that these features are rule-governed, not mistakes.
Gesture and sound
African influence also survives in things you can't easily write down. Kiss teet, the sharp sucking of the teeth to show annoyance, and "cut-eye", a pointed look of disdain, are found across Africa and the African diaspora. The linguists John and Angela Rickford traced both in a well-known 1976 paper, "Cut-Eye and Suck-Teeth". Many listeners also hear West African influence in the rhythm and melody of Patois, which differ noticeably from English.
A note on words that aren't African
Not every unfamiliar Patois word is African. Pickney (child) is usually traced to Portuguese pequeno (small). Many "strange" words are regional or old English: every mickle mek a muckle echoes a Scots proverb, and bickle (food) comes from English "victuals". A few words, like bammy, belong to the Taíno food tradition, and ganja arrived with indentured Indian workers.
For more Patois words of every origin, see 100 common Jamaican Patois words or browse the dictionary.
Questions people ask
How many Jamaican Patois words come from Africa?
There's no reliable single figure, and counts depend on how cautiously you judge each etymology. What's clear is that African-derived words are a small share of the total vocabulary but are concentrated in everyday areas: food, the home, spirituality, folklore, emotions and insults.
Which African language influenced Patois the most?
Akan, especially Twi from the former Gold Coast (modern Ghana), is usually named as the strongest single source of African words, reflecting the large number of enslaved people brought from that region. Igbo, Kikongo and other languages also contributed. For grammar, scholars debate how much is owed to particular languages versus the wider West African region.
Is pickney an African word?
Probably not. It's usually traced to a Portuguese word for small (pequeno), likely via older contact-language usage around the Atlantic, and it is related to an English word that later became a racial slur. In Jamaica, pickney is an ordinary, affectionate word for a child.