Rasta Slang Dictionary of Phrases A - C
A
A GO: aux w/v. going to do, as in "Me a go tell him"
A DOOR: outdoors
ACCOMPONG: n. name of Maroon warrior, Capt. Accompong, brother of Cudjo;
also name of town. From the Twi name for the supreme deity
ACKEE: n. African food tree introduced about 1778. From Twi ankye or
Kru akee
AGONY: the sensations felt during intercourse
AKS: ask
ALIAS: adj. (urban slang) dangerous, violent
AN: than
ARMAGEDDON: the biblical final battle between the forces of good and
evil
ASHAM: n. Parched, sweetened, and ground corn. From twi osiam
B
BABYLON: the corrupt establishment, the "system, " Church and State;
the police, a policeman
BAD: good, great
BAD BWAI: (bad boy) refering to a bold man; a compliment; One who has
committed a crime. (rude bwai, ruddy, baddy)
BADNESS: hooligan behavior, violence for its own sake
BAFAN: clumsy; awkward
BAFANG: a child who did not learn to walk the 1st 2-7 years.
BAG-O-WIRE: a betrayer
BAGGY: underpants for a woman or child.
BALMYARD: n. place where pocpmania rites are held, healing is done,
spells cast or lifted
BAKRA: white slavemaster, or member of the ruling class in colonial
days. Popular etymology: "back raw" (which he bestowed with a whip.)
BALD-HEAD: a straight person; one without dreadlocks; one who works
for babylon
BAMBA YAY: by and by
BAMBU: rolling paper
BAMMY: a pancake made out of cassava, after it has been grated and
squeezed to remove the bitter juice.
BANDULU: bandit, criminal, one living by guile
BANDULU BIZNESS is a racket, a swindle.
BANGARANG: hubbub, uproar, disorder, disturbance.
BANKRA: a big basket, including the type which hangs over the sides
of a donkey.
BANS: from bands; a whole lot, a great deal, nuff, whole heap.
BASHMENT : party, dance, session
BAT: butterfly or moth. English bat, the flying rodent, is a rat-bat.
BATTY: bottom; backside; anus.
BATTYBWOY: a gay person
BEAST: a policeman
BEENIE: little
BEX: vex (verb), or vexed (adjective).
BHUTTU (BUHTUH): an uncouth, out of fashion, uncultured person, Use:
Wey yu a go inna dem deh cloze? Yu fayva buttu
BIG BOUT YAH : Large and in charge. Superlative indicating
status (power, fame, money, talent, etc) within some social group
BISSY: cola nut.
BLACK UP: To smoke weed. Like somene would ask "You Black up today?"
Meaning did you smoke today?
BLACKHEART MAN: a rascal, a hooligan
BLY: chance, "must get a bly", "must get a chance".
BOASIE: adj. proud, conceited, ostentatious. Combination of English
boastful and Yoruba bosi-proud and ostentatious
BOASIN TONE: Swollen penis or testicles
BOBO: fool.
BOONOONOONOUS: Meaning wonderful.
BOX: To smack or to hit in the face.
BRAA: from BREDDA; brother.
BRAATA: a little extra; like the 13th cookie in a baker's dozen; or
an extra helping of food. In musical shows it has come to be the encore.
BREDREN: one's fellow male Rastas
BRINDLE: to be angry
BRINKS : title given to a man who is supplying a woman with money
BUBU: fool.
BUCKY: home-made gun
BUD : bird.
BUFU-BUFU: fat, swollen, blubbery; too big; clumsy or lumbering.
BUGUYAGA: a sloppy, dirty person, like a bum or tramp.
BULL BUCKA: a bully
BULLA: a comon sugar and flour cookie or small round cake, sold everywhere
in Jamaica.
BUMBA CLOT,
(TO GET) BUN: to have one's spouse or girl/boy-friend cheat on oneself,
to be cheated out of something
BLOOD CLOT: curse word
BUCK UP: meet
BUMBO: bottom; backside. A common curse word, especially in combination
with CLOT (cloth), a reference to the days before toilet paper.
BUNGO: n. racially pejorative. Crude, black, ignorant, boorish person.
From Hausa bunga-bumpkin, nincompoop
BUNKS: to knock or bump against, from "to bounce",
BUNKS MI RES, catch my rest, take a nap.
BWOY: Boy
C
(THE) CAT: a woman's genitals
CALLALOU : A spinach stew.
CARD : to fool someone
CEASE & SEKKLE!: stop everything and relax!
CEPES : (n.) beard
CERACE: a ubiquitous vine used for boiling medicinal tea, and for bathing.
It is proverbial for its bitterness.
CHA! or CHO!: a disdainful expletive pshaw! very common, mild explanation
expressing impatience, vexation or disappointment.
CHAKA-CHAKA: messy, disorderly, untidy.
CHALICE or CHILLUM: a pipe for smoking herb, usually made from coconut
shell
or CHALEWA: and tubing, used ritually by Rastas
CHANT : (v.) - to sing, especially cultural or spiritual songs
CHEAP: just as cheap, just as well.
CHIMMY: chamber pot.
CHO: very common, mild explanation expressing impatience, vexation
or disappointment.
CLAP: hit, break, stride
CLOT: 1. cloth, an essential part of most Jamaican bad words, such
as bumbo clot, rass clot, blood clot, etc. The essence of Jamaican cursing
seems to be nastiness, rather than the blashemy or sexuality which is characteristic
of the metropolitan countries; to hit or strike - from the verb "to clout";
literally means a used tampon
COCO: a potato-like edible root, known elsewhere as the taro or the
eddo. It was brought to Jamaica from the South Pacific. This is completely
distinct from cocoa, usually called chocolate.
COIL: money
COME DUNG: come down, get ready (as to prepare to play a tune)
COME EEN LIKE: to seem as if; to resemble.
CONTROL : to be in charge of, responsible for, to own; to take
COO 'PON: v. (origin unclear) Look upon!
COO YAH: v. (origin unclear) Look here! pay attention
COOL RUNNINGS: usually used at a time of departure on a long journey
meaning have a safe trip
COOLIE: the traditional Jamaican epithet for East Indians. It is never
used It is never used for Chinese Jamaicans.
Usually in the form coolie-man or coolie-oman. It is not considered
polite today anymore than the term nega, but it is still used widely in
rural areas.
COLLIE: n. (urban slang) ganja
COME YAH (cumyu): come here.
CORK UP: jammed, filled, crowded
CORN: 1. marijuana 2. money 3. a bullet
COTCH: verb (cotch up), to support something else, as with a forked
stick; to balance something or place it temporarily; to beg someone a cotch,
can be a place on a crowded bus seat or bench; or it may mean to cotch
a while, to stay somewhere temporarily.
COTTA: a roll of cloth or vegetation placed on top of the head to cushion
the skull from the weight of a head load.
CRAB: aside from it's usual meaning, it is a verb meaning to scratch
or claw.
CRAVEN: greedy
CRIS: crisp; popularly used for anything brand-new, slick-looking.
CRISSARS: crisp, brand-new
CROMANTY: adj. from Corromantee, Blacks from the Gold Coast believed
to be rebellious
CROCUS BAG: a very large sack made of coarse cloth, like burlap
CROSSES: problems, vexations, trials; bad luck, misfortunes.
CRUCIAL: serious, great, "hard,", "dread"
CUBBITCH: covetous.
CUDJO: n. name of famous Maroon warrior; mn born on Monday, from Fante,
Twi kudwo
CULTURE: reflecting or pertaining to the roots values and traditions
highly respected by the Rastas
CUSS-CUSS: a quarrel or fracas, with lots of cursing.
CUT YAI: to cut your eye at somebody is a very common means of expressing
scorn or contempt, for example; one catches the other person's eye, then
deliberatly turns one's own eyes as an insult.
CUTCHIE: pipe for communal smoking.
CYAAN: cannot, can't
