Toki Pona

English

Alternative forms

• toki pona

Etymology

From Toki Pona toki pona (literally “good language”), formed from toki (“language”) (from Tok Pisin tok, from English talk) + pona (“good”) (from Esperanto bona (“good”), ultimately from Latin bonus).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈtəʊki ˈpəʊnə/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈtoʊki ˈpoʊnə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊnə

Proper noun

Toki Pona

1. A minimalist constructed language with creole-like elements designed by the Canadian Sonja Lang.
   • 2010 March 10, Arika Okrent, “Questions Answered: Invented Languages”, in The New York Times‎^[1], archived from the original on 29 July 2025:

     While it’s true that these days your best hope for getting a community to take up your invented language is to attach it to a blockbuster movie, there have been some limited successes in other realms. Toki Pona was invented to promote positive thinking.

   • 2015 July 15, Roc Morin, “How to Say Everything in a Hundred-Word Language”, in The Atlantic‎^[2], archived from the original on 3 February 2017:

     In contrast to the hundreds or thousands of study hours required to attain fluency in other languages, a general consensus among Toki Pona speakers is that it takes about 30 hours to master.

   • 2024 February 1, Tom Hale, “Toki Pona: The Unique Language With Less Than 150 Words”, in IFLScience‎^[3], archived from the original on 2 February 2024:

     Within his deep dive, Watts speaks to a couple of Toki Pona speakers (including a musician who makes songs in the constructed language) to better understand this fascinating system of communication.

Derived terms

• tokiponido
• Tokiponist
• tokiponist
• tokiponization
• tokiponize

Translations

constructed language

• Arabic: توكي بونا (tuki buna)
• Belarusian: такіпона (takipóna)
• Catalan: toki pona
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 道本語 / 道本语 (dou⁶ bun² jyu⁵)

  Mandarin: 道本語 / 道本语 (zh) (Dàoběn yǔ)

• Chuvash: Токи Пона (Tok̬i P̬ona)
• Czech: toki pona
• Dutch: Toki Pona (nl)
• Esperanto: Tokipono (eo)
• Finnish: tokipona
• French: toki pona (fr) m
• Hebrew: טוקי פונה
• Hindi: टोकि पोना (ṭoki ponā)
• Italian: toki pona (it) m
• Japanese: トキポナ (ja) (Toki Pona)
• Korean: 도기 보나 (Dogi Bona)
• Limburgish: Toki Pona
• Marathi: टोकी पोना (ṭokī ponā)
• Persian: توکی پونا
• Polish: toki pona (pl) f
• Portuguese: toki pona (pt), Toki Pona m
• Russian: токипо́на (ru) f (tokipóna)
• Slovak: toki pona f
• Spanish: toki pona (es) m, Toki Pona m
• Swedish: toki pona
• Tamil: டோக்கி போனா (ṭōkki pōṉā)
• Thai: ภาษาโทคิโพนา
• Turkish: Toki Pona (tr)
• Ukrainian: токі-по́на (toki-póna)
• Welsh: Toki Pona

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Toki Pona terms
• Appendix:Toki Pona

Spanish

Noun

Toki Pona m (uncountable)

1. alternative letter-case form of toki pona
   • 2020 March 3, Verónica García, “El idioma de 120 palabras que "te hace feliz", explicado por la única española que lo habla”, in El Confidencial‎^[4]:

     No hay mucha gente con quien hablar, ya que solo unas 4.000 personas en todo el mundo conocen el Toki Pona, la mayoría en Estados Unidos. En 2019 hubo una convención sobre Toki Pona en Bratislava, en un festival cultural, a la que solo asistieron... 12 personas.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)