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Culture, Heritage & History
90 entries in this part of the language, each with meanings, pronunciation and worked examples.
- Abeng A wind instrument made from a cow's horn, blown to send messages and signals across the…
- Accompong The self-governing Maroon town in the Cockpit Country of St.
- Africa Africa — for many Jamaicans, and centrally in Rastafari, not just a continent but the…
- Anancy story A folk tale about Anancy (Anansi), the cunning spider-trickster of Jamaican tradition —…
- Anansi story A folk tale of Anansi, the cunning spider-man trickster who outwits bigger, stronger…
- Back-a-Wall A notorious shanty settlement in west Kingston, home to the poorest of the poor and an…
- Backra A white person — historically the white master or plantation-owning class of the slavery…
- Bag-o-wire A betrayer — someone who sells out or informs on the very people who trusted them.
- Bankra A large covered basket woven from bamboo or wicker, used to carry produce, food, or goods —…
- Banky A low wooden bench or small stool to sit on — a simple, homemade seat, often just a plank…
- Bar A bar — the small neighbourhood drinking spot where people buy a beer or a shot, play…
- Basic school Early-childhood school for the youngest children, roughly ages three to six — Jamaica's…
- Bruckins A traditional Jamaican dance and celebration, most famous as the 'Bruckins Party' held to…
- Chalk The white (or coloured) stick used to write on the blackboard, and by children on the…
- Christmas Christmas — the biggest festive season of the Jamaican year.
- Coal stove A small portable cooking stove — usually a metal or cast frame with a grate — that burns…
- Coco macca A hard, heavy walking stick or cudgel cut from the wood of a spiny palm — the 'coco macca'…
- Coconut shell The hard woody shell of the dry coconut, once the flesh is out — split, cleaned, and put to…
- Coffin The box in which a dead person is buried.
- Common Entrance The high-stakes primary-school exit examination that decided which high school a Jamaican…
- Cotta A pad twisted into a ring from cloth, dried banana leaf, or grass, and set on the head to…
- Culcha Culture — heritage, roots, and identity — but in reggae it carries a special, weighted…
- Dead-yard The yard or home of a deceased person, where the family gathers and the community comes to…
- Devotion The morning worship that opens the school day in Jamaica — the whole school gathering for…
- Dinki-mini A traditional Jamaican folk celebration held during the nine nights of mourning after a…
- Don man A 'don' — a powerful local strongman, the boss of a community or 'garrison', who commands…
- Dresser A bedroom chest of drawers fitted with a mirror — the dressing table where clothes, linens…
- Drum Drum names two things in Jamaican life.
- Dungle A notorious West Kingston shantytown built on and around a garbage dump ('dunghill'), where…
- Easter Easter — a major Jamaican holiday marked as much by food and kite-flying as by church.
- Emancipation Day The first of August — the Jamaican public holiday marking the abolition of slavery in the…
- Enamel mug A metal cup or mug coated in enamel — the hardy, cheap, chip-prone tinware cup, usually…
- Exercise book A school writing book — the thin ruled notebook in which pupils do their lessons, sums, and…
- Extra lesson Private after-school tutoring — extra classes a child attends beyond the normal school day…
- Falmouth The historic capital of Trelawny parish on the north coast — a well-preserved Georgian town…
- Foreparents Ancestors;
- Fretwork The decorative wooden trim of carved and cut-out patterns that ornaments old Jamaican…
- Gerreh A traditional wake ceremony of dancing, drumming, and singing held to mark a death — kin to…
- Gourd A gourd — the hard-shelled fruit of the calabash, dried and hollowed into a bowl, dipper…
- Granny Nanny Nanny of the Maroons — the 18th-century Maroon leader and Obeah-woman who led the Windward…
- Gumbay A square, hand-beaten frame drum of Maroon and West-African heritage, and the music and…
- Headmaster The head of a school — the principal, or 'head teacher' — a figure of great authority and…
- Heroes Day National Heroes Day — a Jamaican public holiday on the third Monday of October honouring…
- Independence Day The sixth of August — the Jamaican public holiday celebrating the island's independence…
- Indian An Indo-Jamaican — a person of East Indian descent, from the indentured labourers brought…
- Jackass rope Home-cured tobacco twisted into a long, thick rope and sold by the length, cut off to order…
- Jalousie A louvre window — the window made of overlapping horizontal slats of glass or wood, cranked…
- Jonkonnu A masquerade tradition performed at Christmas, in which costumed, masked characters parade…
- Kerosene lamp A kerosene (paraffin) oil lamp — the wick-and-globe lamp that lit homes before and beyond…
- Kerosene tin The square metal can that kerosene ('home oil') came in — and, once empty, one of the…
- Lamp globe The clear glass chimney of a kerosene ('home') lamp — the tall shaped glass that fits over…
- Linstead A market town in St.
- Manley The surname of one of Jamaica's most important political families.
- Maroons The communities of Africans who escaped slavery and built free, self-governing settlements…
- Meat safe A ventilated cupboard — with mesh, wire-gauze, or perforated-metal sides — used to store…
- Morant Bay The capital town of St.
- Morris chair A wooden-framed armchair with a reclining back and loose seat and back cushions — the…
- National pledge Jamaica's pledge of allegiance, recited by schoolchildren at morning devotion alongside the…
- Night soil Human waste collected from pit latrines and outhouses — historically carried away at night…
- Nine Mile The rural village in the hills of St.
- Old-time people People of the old days — the elders and ancestors whose ways, wisdom, proverbs, and…
- Pantomime Jamaica's national musical stage tradition — a lavish, comic, song-and-dance theatre…
- Patwa The everyday language of Jamaica itself — the English-based creole spoken across the island…
- Pinnacle The pioneering Rastafari commune founded by Leonard 'Gong' Howell in the hills of St.
- Pit toilet A pit latrine — the outdoor toilet built over a deep dug pit, standard in country districts…
- Pitchy-patchy A central character of Jonkunnu (John Canoe), the traditional Jamaican Christmas masquerade…
- Po A chamber pot — the enamel or ceramic pot kept under the bed and used to relieve oneself at…
- Politricks Politics reframed as trickery — the deceit, empty promises, and manipulation of politicians.
- Prefect A senior student given authority to help keep order among the other students — a mark of…
- Prep school A private preparatory school for primary-age children, contrasted with the government-run…
- Quashie Originally an Akan day-name (Kwasi, a boy born on Sunday), extremely common among enslaved…
- Ruler-lick A blow with a ruler as school or home punishment — a 'lick' (hit) delivered across the palm…
- Rum bar The small neighbourhood bar — often little more than a counter and a few stools — where men…
- Set-up A wake — the nightly gathering of family and community at the home of the deceased in the…
- Sideboard A long, low cabinet for the dining or front room — with drawers and cupboards below and a…
- Slate The small framed writing tablet of dark stone that schoolchildren once wrote on with a…
- Spanish Town The old capital of Jamaica (until 1872) and the capital of St.
- Spanish wall An old style of house wall built by filling a timber frame with stones, marl, and lime…
- Sports day The big annual school athletics day, when pupils compete in races and field events, divided…
- Strap The leather strap or belt used to give a beating as punishment — a classic instrument of…
- Supple-jack A tough, flexible woody vine (or a whip made from it) used as a switch for beating — even…
- Tamarind switch A thin, whippy rod cut from a tamarind tree, kept for beating children as punishment — the…
- Tenement yaad A crowded inner-city yard of small rented rooms sharing one common yard, kitchen, and…
- Wake The traditional watch kept over the dead — nights of gathering, singing, prayer, and…
- Wattle and daub An old way of building a house wall from a woven framework of sticks ('wattle') packed and…
- Whatnot A small stand of open shelves for displaying ornaments, photos, china, and knick-knacks —…
- Wick The flat cotton strip in a kerosene lamp or a candle that draws up the oil to the flame and…
- Xaymaca The original Taíno name for Jamaica, from which the modern name comes.
- Yabba A large, round earthenware pot or bowl of red clay — traditional Jamaican cookware and…
- Zinc Corrugated galvanised metal roofing sheet — the wavy 'zinc' that roofs countless Jamaican…