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Body, Health & Appearance
102 entries in this part of the language, each with meanings, pronunciation and worked examples.
- Aiz Ear or ears — the Patois pronunciation of 'ears'.
- Asma Asthma — the breathing condition, pronounced 'asma' in Patois with the silent 'th' dropped.
- Bad foot A chronically sore, ulcerated, or injured leg — a persistent leg wound or 'leg sore' that…
- Bad-belly An upset stomach — a stomach-ache, indigestion, or the runs.
- Bad-blood Two senses.
- Batty The buttocks, backside, or bottom.
- Baxide The backside or buttocks.
- Belly The stomach or abdomen — but in Jamaican it also commonly means a pregnancy.
- Belly bottom The lower part of the belly, the pit of the stomach — the 'bottom' of the belly.
- Big belly Pregnant — 'she big belly' means she is expecting a baby, and to 'get big belly' is to…
- Black-black Very dark-skinned — the reduplication of 'black' intensifying it to mean deeply dark in…
- Body come dung To feel a sickness coming on — that heavy, achy, run-down feeling when a cold, flu, or…
- Bow-foot Bow-legged — having legs that curve outward at the knees so the feet come together but the…
- Brownin A light-skinned Black person — most often a light-skinned woman.
- Bumpa The buttocks — especially a large, curvy, shapely backside, much celebrated in dancehall…
- Cane row Hair braided flat and tight to the scalp in neat rows, running from front to back or in…
- Catarrh Mucus and congestion — the phlegm, blocked or running nose, and chest and sinus stuffiness…
- Clean skin Smooth, clear, blemish-free skin — an admired feature, the sign of youth, health, and good…
- Cold catch A cold or chill that a person has caught — a head cold with sneezing, runny nose, and…
- Coolie hair Straight, fine, dark hair of the kind associated with Jamaicans of Indian descent —…
- Cough To cough — to force air sharply from the chest, as with a cold, a chill, or a tickle in the…
- Crass-yeye Cross-eyed — having eyes that turn inward or don't align, from 'crass' (cross) plus 'yeye'…
- Craw The throat, gullet, or stomach — as in a fowl's craw, the pouch where it holds its food.
- Craw-craw An intensely itchy skin rash or eruption — small bumps and sores that itch and spread, of…
- Cro-cro Sores or a scabby, eruptive skin condition — rough, crusty, itchy patches and sores on the…
- Dread-looking Fearsome, rough, or frightening in appearance — looking hard, dangerous, or wild enough to…
- Ducta A doctor — the Patois pronunciation of 'doctor', with the vowel rounded and the final 'r'…
- Dundus A Jamaican word for a person with albinism — someone born with very pale skin, hair, and…
- Ears-hole The ear opening;
- Egghead A bald or clean-shaven head, or a person with one — 'egghead' pictures the smooth, egg-like…
- Eye-water Tears — literally the water of the eye.
- Fat-fat Very fat, plump, and full — the reduplication of 'fat' intensifying it.
- Fatta Fatter, or plump and well-fed — the Patois comparative of 'fat'.
- Fluffy A softened, often affectionate or self-affirming way of describing a person — usually a…
- Foot In Patois, 'foot' means the whole leg — from hip to toe — not just the part below the ankle.
- Foot corn A hard, painful corn on the foot — the thickened lump of skin that forms from friction and…
- Foot-bottom The sole of the foot — literally the 'bottom' of the foot.
- Frowsy Smelly in a stale, unwashed way — giving off body odour, or a musty, sour, shut-up smell.
- Goose-skin Goosebumps — the little raised bumps on the skin that come up from cold, fear, or strong…
- Gripe Sharp stomach or gut pains from gas or colic — the cramping 'gripe' that doubles you over…
- Gum-boil A painful abscess or boil on the gum — a swollen, throbbing lump in the mouth, usually…
- Hair grease Hair pomade — the thick, often petroleum-based grease rubbed into the hair and scalp to…
- Hand In Patois, 'hand' means the whole arm — from shoulder to fingertips — not just the part…
- Hand middle The palm of the hand — the middle, inner part of the hand.
- Head The head — but also the seat of mind, sense, and behaviour in many Patois expressions: 'him…
- Head nuh good Not right in the head — mad, mentally unstable, or behaving foolishly and irrationally.
- Hearty Healthy, robust, and in good vigour — strong and well in body.
- Heel-back The back of the heel — the area behind the heel and the tendon above it (the Achilles).
- High blood High blood pressure;
- High colour Light-skinned;
- Hot comb A metal comb heated on the stove or over the fire and drawn through the hair to straighten…
- Hunch back A person with a curved, rounded, humped upper back — and the condition itself.
- Jaw bone The jaw.
- Jheri curl The glossy, wet-look chemical curl hairstyle that was hugely popular in the 1980s — hair…
- Jigga The chigoe flea — a tiny sand flea that burrows into the skin, most often under the…
- Ketch yuh breath To catch your breath — to pause and recover after exertion, shock, or a rush.
- Kin Skin — the Patois form of 'skin', which turns up in a whole family of vivid expressions…
- Kin teeth To grin or smile broadly, showing the teeth — literally to 'skin' (draw back) the lips off…
- Knock-knee Knock-kneed — having legs that angle inward so the knees touch or 'knock' together while…
- Maga Thin, skinny, or scrawny — lacking flesh, or, by extension, lacking substance.
- Mampy A big, fat woman — often said admiringly in dancehall, where a full, heavy figure ('mampy…
- Nable The navel — the Patois pronunciation of 'navel'.
- Natch Natural — chiefly of hair worn in its natural, unprocessed state, and of a natural…
- Natural hair Hair worn in its natural, unprocessed state — not straightened by relaxer or hot comb —…
- Navel string The umbilical cord — but far more than a body part in Jamaican culture.
- Nice hair A loaded, colourism-rooted term for hair that is straighter, looser-curled, or softer in…
- Nose-hole A nostril — the everyday Jamaican word for the nostril, formed straightforwardly as 'nose'…
- Nuoz-ole The nostril — literally 'nose-hole', the everyday Patois compound for a nostril or the…
- Nyampi The crusty matter that gathers in the corner of the eye — 'sleep' or eye-crust, especially…
- Picky-picky Of hair: short, tightly-coiled, and matted or unkempt — 'picky-picky head' describes very…
- Plait A braid, and to braid — dividing the hair into sections and weaving them together.
- Porky Plump, chubby, and fat — of a person or animal on the round, well-fed side.
- Pot belly A big, round, protruding belly — a 'pot belly' or 'pot-gut', shaped like a cooking pot.
- Press and curl A way of styling Afro hair by first pressing it straight with a heated metal comb ('hot…
- Pressure High blood pressure — 'di pressure' — one of the most talked-about health complaints in…
- Red Beyond the colour, 'red' describes a light-brown or fair-skinned Black person — a 'red' man…
- Red Ibo An old term for a light-skinned Black person with a reddish complexion — from the belief…
- Red skin A light-brown-skinned person — 'red' being the everyday Jamaican skin-tone term for a fair…
- Relaxer A chemical cream ('perm') applied to straighten tightly-curled hair, 'relaxing' the curl…
- Ringworm A fungal skin infection that shows as a round, scaly, itchy patch with a raised ring around…
- Running belly Diarrhoea — a loose, upset stomach that keeps you 'running' to the toilet.
- Shine head A bald head, or a person with one — the 'shine' being the gleam of a hairless scalp.
- Short-breath Short of breath — breathing with difficulty, easily winded, or wheezy, as with asthma, a…
- Slimmaz A slim, slender person — or a term of admiration for a slim, shapely woman, as celebrated…
- Sneeze To sneeze — to expel air suddenly and loudly through the nose and mouth, as with a cold…
- Spit To spit — to force saliva from the mouth.
- Stamma A stammer or a stutter — and, by extension, a person who stammers.
- Strong-back Two linked senses.
- Sugar Diabetes — 'the sugar', the everyday word for the disease.
- Swaaty Sweaty — drenched in sweat, as after hard work or in the blazing 'sun hot'.
- Swell-up Swollen — puffed up from injury, illness, an insect bite, or infection.
- Tetter A folk name for a patch of skin disease — a dry, scaly, itchy or discoloured spot such as…
- Toe-jam The gunk — dirt, sweat, and dead skin — that collects between the toes, especially after a…
- Tough hair Coarse, tightly-curled, kinky hair that is 'tough' or 'hard' to comb through.
- Tumpa A stump — the short remaining part of a limb, so 'tumpa-foot' describes a person with an…
- Wash-out A purge — a cleansing of the bowels taken deliberately for health, using a laxative bush…
- Water-belly A swollen, fluid-filled belly — the distended abdomen seen in serious illness (such as the…
- Wind Gas in the belly — the trapped air that causes bloating, discomfort, and colic.
- Yawn To yawn — to open the mouth wide and draw a long breath, out of tiredness, sleepiness, or…
- Yeye The eye — but it carries more than sight.
- Yeye-ball The eyeball — 'yeye' being the Patois for eye.
- Yeye-water Tears — literally 'eye-water'.