Meaning
Honey — and, as a term of endearment, a sweetheart or dear one ('come here, honey'). Beyond the sweetness on the table, honey is prized in Jamaican folk medicine, mixed with lime and herbs for a cold or a bad cough and worked into tonics and remedies, and it carries a whole warmth of comfort and care. So the word runs from the food and the folk cure to the loving name for a cherished person, all sharing the same sense of something precious and sweet, good for the body and the heart alike.
Examples
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Mix di honey wid lime fi di cough.
Mix the honey with lime for the cough.
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Come here, honey, mek mi talk to yuh.
Come here, sweetheart, let me talk to you.
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Spread some honey pon di bread.
Spread some honey on the bread.
Origin
The plain word 'honey', with the widespread affectionate sense of 'sweetheart' and a role in folk remedies.
How it’s used
Both the food and an endearment; also a folk-medicine ingredient (honey and lime for colds).