Meaning
A small round knot of twisted hair: the Jamaican name for Bantu or Nubian knots, made by sectioning the hair, twisting each section, and wrapping it around its own base. A chiney bump is also a glass marble, the kind children play with in the schoolyard. The two meanings are unrelated, and the words around it show which one is meant.
Examples
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She wear har hair inna chiney bump dem.
She wears her hair in chiney bumps.
The hairstyle.
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Mi lose all mi chiney bump to Delroy.
I lost all my marbles to Delroy.
The marble.
Origin
From 'chiney', the Jamaican word for Chinese, and 'bump'. Cultural expert Joan Andrea 'Bumpyhead Gal' Hutchinson has explained the hairstyle's name by saying that most of the Chinese people in Jamaica were small in stature. Jamaica also has a small banana called the chiney banana. See Chiney.
How it’s used
Two unrelated meanings share the name, so the words around it decide which is meant. See Natural hair, Press and curl, Marble.