Vocabulary List

 

This list is mainly meant as a scratchboard, to help in efforts to come up with a good global vocabulary. For specific words in Dunia Patwa, see the dictionaries.

 

Personal Pronouns

 

1PS Jo (Spa) / mi (Eng)

2PS Ni (Man)

3PS Ta (Man)

1PP Nos (Spa) / anu (Jamaican)

2PP Tum (Hin)

 

3PP Dem (Eng)

 

General Words

 

Ability/capability

“Habili” from Latin? Actually, this could be included in “bole."

 

Above

“Atas” from Indonesian.

 

Account

“Depo” from English.

 

Admire

“Abos” from Swahili.

 

Affair/thing

Could be “dielo” from Russian.

 

Afford

Could be “dena” from Hindi. But is this necessary? Can just say “not enough money.”

 

Again

“Lagi” from Singlish from Malay?

 

Air

“Hawa” from Arabic. Could be “qi” from Chinese.

 

All

“Saba” (Hindi). Or “toto” from Latin. Or “kabisa” from Swahili.

 

Allow

“Halal” from Arabic. Could be XXX from Swahili.

 

Almond

“Amanda” from LF.

 

Almost

"Kwasi" from Latin.

 

Alphabet

"Alfabe" from French.

 

Already

“Haja” from Mandarin. Perhaps “aledi” from English.

 

Always

“Abidi” from Swahili.

 

And

“Na” from a bunch of languages. Could be “mo” from Bislama (also Japanese, somewhat).

 

Animal

“Animal” is fine. Could also be “bis” from English.

 

Ant

“Maji” from Mandarin.

 

Apple

“Apel” from English. Could be “alma” from Turkish.

 

Army/military

“Milita” from Latin.

 

Art/craft

“Kala” from Hindi.

 

Ask

“Cigwen” from Mandarin.

 

At/in

“Fi” from Arabic.

 

Aunt

"Bibi" from Indonesian.

 

Autumn

“Aki” from Japanese. Could be “karif” from Arabic. Or “osen” from Russian.

 

Bad

“Mal” from Spanish.

 

Basket

“Gamla” from Bengali from Portuguese.

 

Bathe

“Mandi” from Indonesian (noun should be mandi-tub). Or “banjo” from Spanish.

 

Beach/seashore

“Pantai” from Indonesian. Could be “hama” from Japanese.

 

Bean/nut

“Kacaq” from Singlish from Malay.

 

Bear

“Balu” from Hindi?

 

Beautiful/pretty

“Swai” from Thai. Could be “swi” from Singlish. Or “bela” from Spanish.

 

Bed

“Katil” from Malay from Tamil.

 

Bee

“Baci” from Japanese.

 

Before

“Bifo” from English.

 

Below

“Bawa” from Indonesian.

 

Big/large

“Mega” from Latin.

 

Bird

“Chidja” from Hindi. “Niao” from Mandarin is a possibility, though it has three vowels. Also, “waso” as a corruption of French, could be possible, and in fact is used by Toki Pona.

 

Birth/Be Born

“Nasen” from Latin.

 

Black

“Kali” from Hindi. “Sija” from Persian.

 

Blanket

“Kamal” from Hindi.

 

Blood

"Xun" from Hindi, Urdu, Persian.

 

Blue

“Nila” from Hindi. Could be “abi” from Persian. Or “blau” from German. Or “awo” from Japanese. Or “blu” from English.

 

Body

“Xenti” (Man).

 

Bomb

“Bomba” from Italian.

 

Bone

“Oso” from Portuguese. Could be “hadi” from Bengali.

 

Book

“Xuben” from Mandarin. “Buk” from English and “Kitab” from Arabic are other choices, but they both end in plosives.

 

Boring

“Sian” from Singlish (frustrating).

 

Bottle

“Botol” from Bengali from Portuguese.

 

Bottom

“Tala” from Hindi.

 

Box

“Bako” from Japanese, which sounds like box.

 

Branch

"Xuba" from Arabic.

 

Break

“Peca” from Singlish from Malay.

 

Breast

“Mamali” from Latin.

 

Breathe

“Sansa” from Hindi.

 

Bridge

“Baxi” from Japanese. Could be “ponte” from Romance languages.

 

Bright

Could be “ljao” from Mandarin.

 

Brother

“Didi” from Mandarin.

 

Brush

“Bras” from Bislama. Could be “tuli” from Bengali.

 

Building

“Bildi” from English. Or “bina” from Turkish.

 

Burn

“Flambe” from French.

 

But

“Kexi” from Mandarin. “Tetapi” from Malay is another choice, or rather “tapi” from Singlish.

 

Button

“Baten” from Tok Pisin from English.

 

Buy

“Kini” from Bengali?

 

Cabbage

“Kalam” from Persian.

 

Candle

“Xama” from Arabic.

 

Card

“Kapyan” from Mandarin?

 

Carrot

“Karota” from where?

 

Cassava

"Mandio" from Guarani.

 

Cat

“Felix” from Latin. Could be “mjau” from Hakka. Could be “neko” from Japanese.

 

Cautious

“Kiasi” from Singlish.

 

Cave

“Kandra” from Hindi.

 

Chair

“Kawi” from Thai.

 

Change

“Kambi” from Spanish.

 

Cheap/inexpensive

“Xosta” from Bengali from Farsi.

 

Chicken

“Ayam” from Malay?

 

Child

“Ninjo” from Spanish. Could be “pikin” from various Creoles. “Anak” from Malay is a possibility, but ends in a stop.

 

Chin

"Cane" from Persian. Probably same root as English?

 

Choose/select

Could be “xuna” from Hindi.

 

Club (group)

“Klabu” from English.

 

Climb

“Eskale” from French. This is used in “escalator.”

 

Close

“Fasen” from English.

 

Cloud

“Kumo” from Japanese.

 

Coat

“Mantel” from Indonesian.

 

Cold

“Tanda” from Hindi.

 

Color

"Swi" from Thai.

 

Come

"Tahal" from Arabic. Could be "lai" from Mandarin.

 

Compete

“Nafas” from Arabic.

 

Computer

“Kompjuta” from English.

 

Continue

“Kipan” from creoles.

 

Copy/duplicate

“Kopi” from English.

 

Correct

 

Cough

"Keso" from Mandarin.

 

Country/land

“Stan” from Hindi.

 

Cow/bull

“Bakar” from Arabic.

 

Crab

"Ganan" from Burmese.

 

Crocodile

Or “mamba” from Swahili.

 

Cup

“Kopa” from Spanish.

 

Cut

“Kata” from Arabic, English, Swahili, Bengali.

 

Dance

“Dans” from English/French. Or “baila” from Spanish.

 

Daughter

"Leani" from Hungarian. Could be "fila" from Portuguese.

 

Day

“Dia” from Spanish. “Tag” from German was a thought but ends in a stop. “Di” as modified English could be a choice, but is very close to “ti.” Another interesting possibility is “sol” from sun in Latin.

 

Decide

“Pan” from Mandarin?

 

Debt

“Doljin” from Russian. Could be “debito” from Italian.

 

Deep

“Dalam” from Indonesian.

 

Dictionary

"Kalimxuben" (compound).

 

Die

“Mati” from Singlish from Malay.

 

Different

“Acana” from Swahili.

 

Direction

"Faq" from Mandarin. Or "starana" from Russian.

 

Discard/throw away

"Bjaq" from Indonesian.

 

Dog

"Ulu" from Bambara. Could be "aso" from Filipino. Or "imbwa" from Shona.

 

Doll

"Pupe" from French (used in Bislama).

 

Donkey

"Punda" from Swahili.

 

Down

"Cini" from Swahili. Could be "dole" from Serbo-Croatian.

 

Draw (a picture)

"Desin" from French.

 

Dream

"Sonja" from Spanish.

 

Drink

Could be "bwa" from French.

 

Drop

“Otos” from Japanese.

 

Dry

“Suka” from Hindi.

 

Eagle

“Akila” from Latin.

 

Ear

Or "gwi" from Korean.

 

Earth (planet)

“Dunia” from Arabic. “Gaja” from Greek is a possibility. Another possibility is “Tera”, which is pretty, though it uses an R. “Mundi”, from Latin, is another possibility.

 

Earth, soil, dirt

“Tana” from Indonesian.

 

East

"Leste" from Portuguese. Could be "dong" from Mandarin.

 

Eat

“Makan” from Singlish/Malay.

 

Edge

Could be “krai” from Russian.

 

Elephant

"Tembo" from Swahili and Rwandan.

 

Empty

“Kali” from Bengali from Arabic.

 

Endure

“Tahan” from Singlish.

 

Enough/sufficient

“Basta” from Spanish.

 

̊̊Envelope

"Lifafa" from Hindi, etc.

 

Enter

“Antre” from French.

 

Epidemic

"Pandemi" from pandemic?

 

Evening

“Bam” from Korean.

 

Event

“Hasal” from Arabic.

 

Every

“Kila” from Swahili. Could be “efi” from English.

 

Except

"Cule" from Mandarin.

 

Expensive

“Gali” from Swahili. Could be “taman” from Arabic.

 

Eye

“Anka” from Hindi. Perhaps “ojo” from Spanish.

 

Face

“Muka” from Hindi, Malay.

 

Fact

“Koto” from Japanese.

 

Fairy

"Feja" from Russian/Ukrainian.

 

Fall

Could be “lue” from Mandarin.

 

Family

“Famili” from English. Could also be “klan” from English and Russian.

 

Far

“Daleko” from Russian and other Slavic languages.

 

Fast

“Kwai” from Mandarin. “Epesi” from Swahili sounds nice. “Capcap” from Chinese pidgin is common, though it has two ending stops.

 

Feather

“Pluma” from Latin.

 

Feel

"Sjenta" from Spanish.

 

Few/a little

"Tinix" from Amharic. “Piti” from Creole. “Tuti” from Wolof.

 

Field

“Kampo” from Spanish.

 

Film/movie

“Sine” from French.

 

Fine (monetary fine)

“Saman” from Singlish.

 

Finger

“Finga” from English (Bislama). Could be “palis” from Russian.

 

Finish

“Pini” from Tok Pisin. Or “habis” from Malay.

 

Fire

“Faja” from English. “Api” from Malay. Could be “fwego” from Spanish.

 

Fish

“Pwasan” from French. Could be “pexe.”

 

Flag

“Bana” from English.

 

Floor (first, second)

Could be “etax” from French and Russian. Or “lantai” from Indonesian.

 

Flower

“Lian” from Singlish. Or “taufa” from Singlish. Could also be “Flawa” from English.

 

Follow

“Dabala” from Arabic. “Fwata” from Swahili?

 

Foot

“Noga” from Russian. Could be “kaki” from Malaysian. Could be “pedi” from Latin.

 

For

“Fo” in Pijin. Or "fi" from Jamaican.

 

Forest

“Fore” from French.

 

Friend

“Amigo” from Spanish. I originally had “sadik” from Arabic, but it could have a funny connotation in French, plus it ends with a stop. “Tomo” from Japanese is kind of cool also. “Pengyo” from Mandarin is also possible.

 

 

Frog

“Beka” from Hungarian.

 

Fruit

“Pal” from Hindi. Or “fala” from Hindi?

 

Garden

The word “bustani,” from Swahili has a nice ring to it. “Niwa” from Japanese is also nice. Because of the association with kindergarten, for example, “gaden” from English is another possibility. Or “bagan” from Farsi.

 

Gas

“Gas.”

 

Giraffe

"Twiga" from Swahili.

 

Give/Gift

"Dena" from Hindi. Or "dona" from Latin. Or "Hadaja" from Swahili.

 

Go

A very common word. “Go” from English is one possibility. Another is “ale” from Bislama, originally from French.

 

God

Could be “deo” from Latin. Or “kami” from Japanese.

 

Gold

“Kane” from Japanese. “Sona” from Hindi is another possibility.

 

Good

Could be “bono.”

 

Government

Could also be “xasan” from Hindi.

 

Grandchild

“Cucu” from Indonesian.

 

Grandfather

 

Grandmother

“Nana.”

 

Group

“Klasta” from English. Could be “kalang” from Malay.

 

Gun

“Pistol” from English. Though it is slightly inaccurate, I think it is a good word to use as a general term for guns. A compound like “hand gun” could be used for pistols.

 

Hair

“Foli” from Latin. Or "tofa" from Mandarin.

 

Hand

"Mano" from Spanish. Or "xoli" from Mandarin.

 

Happen to

"Kena" from Singlish from Malay.

 

Happy

Could be "hapi" from English. Or "suki" from Hindi.

 

Have/possess

"Tene" from Spanish? Or "jo" from Mandarin?

 

Head

“Kepala” from Indonesian. Could be “kapi” or “kaputa” from Latin.

 

Health

Could be “genki” from Japanese. Or “saluta” from Italian.

 

Hear/listen

“Lisen” from English. Could be “audi.”

 

Heart

Could be “kardia” from Greek.

 

Heavy/weight

“Hefi” from English.

 

Help

Could be “pomo” from Russian.

 

Hide

“Kaxe” from French.

 

High

“Alti” from Latin.

 

Hill

“Kolina” from Spanish. Or “kilima” from Swahili. Or “tepe” from Turkish.

 

Hold/grasp

“Pakar” from Hindi.

 

Hole

“Lobang” from Singlish from Malay. Or could be “ana” from Japanese.

 

Honey

“Mjel” from French.

 

Hook

“Kanca” from Turkish.

 

Hope

“Axa” from Hindi/Bengali.

 

Horse

“Hisan” from Arabic (good sound).

 

Hospital

“Klinika.” Could also be “bolnica” from Slavic languages.

 

Hot

“Panas” from Indonesian. Could be “tempe” from Latin.

 

Hour

“Ganta” from Hindi.

 

House

“Kasa” from Spanish.

 

Hundred

“Senta” from Latin.

 

Husband

“Pati” from Hindi. Or “xami” from Bengali. “Swami” from Indonesian. “Mume” from Swahili.

 

If

“Sapos” from Tok Pisin (from “suppose”) is good. “Yaoshi” from Mandarin is another possibility.

 

Immediately

“Mashang” from Mandarin.

 

Incidentally

“Chinami” (without the final “ni”) from Japanese. Could also be dwile from Mandarin.

 

Information

“Info” from English.

 

Injury/wound

“Danjo” from Spanish.

 

Insect

"Maleq" from Thai. Could be “nasikoma” from Russian. A nice possiblity, if we ignore the problematic homonym in English, is "dudu" from Zulu.

 

Instead of

“Ti” from Mandarin?

 

Interesting

“Interesi” from English.

 

Island

“Pulau” from Indonesian, Malaysian.

 

Jaw

“Xaja” from Shona.

 

Jellyfish

"Medusa" from Spanish.

 

Juice

“Katas” from Tagalog.

 

Key

“Cabi” from Hindi, Urdu, originally from Portuguese.

 

King

“Wang” from Mandarin?

 

Knee

“Gutana” from Hindi.

 

Knot

“Ganta” from Hindi. Could be “nodi” from Latin (nodus).

 

Know

Could be “sabi” from Portuguese through Creoles.

 

Laboratory

“Labo” from English.

 

Lake

"Lago" from Spanish.

 

Lamp

“Lampa” from European languages.

 

Language

Could be “toki” from Creoles. Could be “bahasa” from Indonesian and Malay. Could be “lingua” from Latin. Could be “yu” from Mandarin. Or “pasa” from Thai.

 

Lantern

"Fanos" from Amharic.

 

Lazy

“Malas” from Indonesian.

 

Lead

“Gaido” from Japanese from English.

 

Leader/boss

Could be “kapita” from Latin.

 

Leaf

“Folja” from Latin. Or “ilai” from Tamil. But “lif” from English is not bad.

 

Learn

“Logi” from Greek.

 

Left

Could be “ljef” from Russian. Or “ximal” from Arabic.

 

Leg

“Noga” from Russian. Or “kaki” from Malay.

 

Lie

“Loxi” from Russian.

 

Light

“Lumen” from Latin.

 

Line

“Lina” from Spanish?

 

Like (fancy)

“Suka” from Singlish.

 

Lightning

“Umeme” (Swa).

 

Like/Fancy

“Suka” from Singlish.

 

Lion

“Simba,” from Swahili (also “sinha” in Sanskrit).

 

Lips

“Labja” from Latin.

 

Liquid

“Likwi” from English.

 

Live (somewhere)

“Dwel” from English. Or “sumi” from Japanese.

 

Lizard

"Kadal" from Indonesian.

 

Long

Could be "samai" from Hindi.

 

Loose

“Slabi” from Russian.

 

Love

“Amore” from Italian. Or “piari” from Hindi.

 

Machine

“Maxin” from French/English.

 

Map

“Karta” from Latin.

 

Market

“Marxe” from French. Another possibility is “basar,” from bazaar, or the older term, “bahasal” from Persian. One possibility would be to use “marxe” from the concept of the market, and “basar” for open-air markets.

 

Meal

“Lanci” from English. Specific meals should be compounds.

 

Meaning

Could be “imi” from Japanese.

 

Meat

“Njama” from Swahili. Also, “mjas” from Russian?

 

Member/item

“Memba” from English. Or “sadasi” from Hindi.

 

Metal

“Metal” from English, etc.

 

Middle

“Medi” from Indo-European.

 

Milk

“Late” from Italian.

 

Minute (time)

“Fen” from Mandarin.

 

Mirror

“Aena” from Bengali from Farsi. Or "madubi" from Hausa.

 

Money

“Mani” from English. Could be “dena” from Latin.

 

Monkey

"Njani" from Swahili

 

Moon

“Luna” from Latin. “Bulan” from Indonesian is another possibility.

 

Morning

"Acim" from Korean.

 

Mosquito

"Mogi" from Korean.

 

Motorcycle

“Moto” from French.

 

Mountain

Could be “xan” from Mandarin, Korean, (Japanese). Could be “gabal” from Arabic. Could be “mauna” from Hawaiian.

 

Mouse

“Mux” from Persian. Could be “mixa” from Russian.

 

Mouth

"Boka" from Spanish.

 

Much/many

“Muco” from Spanish. Could be “palju” from Estonian. Or “casi” from Swahili.

 

Museum

“Mjuse” from French.

 

Mushroom

“Fungi” from Italian.

 

Music

“Mjusika” from English/Spanish.

 

Must

"Debe" from Spanish.

 

Nail

"Spika" from Swahili.

 

Near

“Lahela” from Finnish. Could be “klai” from Thai. Could be “nikote” from Bengali.

 

New

“Neo” is pretty widely known. “Nubo” from French would be a possibility.

 

News

“Notis” from English/Spanish.

 

Night

“Noce” from Spanish.

 

No/not

“No” from English. “Mai” from Singlish also good.

 

North

"Xamal" from Arabic. Could be "bei" from Mandarin.

 

Nose

Could be "nasi," maybe from Latin.

 

Now

“Pesenli” from English. Or “ima” from Japanese.

 

Number

"Nanba" from Tok Pisin from English.

 

Oath/swear

"Apixa" from Swahili.

 

Ocean/sea

"Mowana" from Hawaiian. Could be “samudra” from Hindi. Or “okean” from Russian and many Slavic languages.

 

Often

"Casto" from Russian. Could also be "afen" from English.

 

Old

"Anxen" from French.

 

Only

"Tasol" from Tok Pisin from English.

 

Open

“Open” from English.

 

Or

"Haixi" from Mandarin.

 

Order

“Manda” from Spanish.

 

Origin

“Asasi” from Indonesian and Swahili. Could be “naxin” from Russian.

 

Other

“Bje” from Mandarin.

 

Out/outside

"Waito" from Mandarin.

 

Oyster

"Muli" from Mandarin.

 

Package

"Pakex" from English.

 

Pain

“Saki” from Indonesian.

 

Palace

“Istana” from Indonesian.

 

Pants/trousers

“Pantalon” from French (used in Hindi as well).

 

Park

“Parko” from English.

 

Parrot

"Odide" from Yoruba.

 

Pencil

“Lapis” from Tagalog. But “lapis” could be used for stones as well.

 

Perfect

“Pafe” from French.

 

 

Person

“Yan” from Cantonese. “Badi” from English is one possibility. “Manuxa” from Malay from Sanskrit is also possible.

 

Pig

“Babi” from Malaysian. Or “swain” from English/German.

 

Pitiful

“Sayang” from Singlish (actually means “too bad”).

 

Place

“Plasa” from plaza. Could be “local.”Or "didjan" from Mandarin.

 

Plant

“Planta” from Latin.

 

Plaza

“Agora” from Greek. Could also be “plasa.”

 

Poor

“Bimbo” from Japanese.

 

Possible

“Bole” from Singlish and Malay.

 

Pot

 

Prepare

“Xumpei” from Mandarin.

 

Price/value

“Kaci” from Korean and Japanese. Or “prais” from English. Or “taman” from Arabic.

 

Print

"Capi" from Hindi and Urdu. Could be“inse” from Korean.

 

Profit

“Li” from Mandarin?

 

Purple

“Kuning” from Indonesian.

 

Rain

“Barix” from Urdu. “Ame” from Japanese?

 

Read

“Soma” from Swahili? Could be “baca” from Indonesian.

 

Receive

“Rati” from Thai.

 

Red

“Aka” from Japanese.

 

Reflect

“Akisi” from Swahili.

 

Regulation/law

“Regulasi” from Indonesian from English. Could be “kanun” from Arabic and Hindi.

 

Reserve

“Juding” from Mandarin.

 

Rest

“Xuxi” from Mandarin.

 

Reveal

“Dakwa” from Swahili.

 

Rich/wealthy

“Kaja” from Singlish from Malay.

 

Right (vs. left)

“Kulja” from Swahili. Or “desnia” from Slovenian.

 

Right (human rights)

 

River

“Gawa” from Japanese. Or “lume” from Albanian. Or “nodi” from Bengali. Or “joki” from Finnish. Or “nadi” from Hindi. “Mainam” from Thai.

 

Room/chamber

“Cemba” from English.

 

Round/ball

“Goli” from Hindi.

 

Run

“Capwa” from Swahili.

 

Sad

“Duka” from Indonesian from Sanskrit.

 

Safe

“Ancwan” from Mandarin.

 

Salad

“Salada” from Spanish.

 

Salt

“Sale” from Italian.

 

Same

“Mwan” from Thai.

 

Satisfy

“Pwas” from Singlish.

 

Say

"Sema" from Swahili.

 

School

“Xule” from German. Could be “sekola” from Indonesian/Malaysian.

 

Season

"Mausam" from Hindi.

 

Secret

“Baomi” from Mandarin.

 

See/look

“Lukim” from Tok Pisin. Could also be “bjusi” from English (view/see). Could be “kane,” taken from Mandarin “kan.” Or “xau” from German.

 

Send (a message, package)

“Posti” from Finnish and many other European languages.

 

Separate

“Alada” from Bengali from Arabic.

 

Sew/Thread

“Sutra” from Sanskrit.

 

Shallow

“Xalo” from English.

 

Shame

“Malu” from Singlish from Malay.

 

Shape

“Kataci” from Japanese.

 

Share

“Kongsi” from Singlish/Malay.

 

Ship/boat

“Bato” from French. Or “safina” from Swahili and Urdu. Or “kapal” from Malay from Tamil.

 

Shirt

“Kamisa” from Spanish.

 

Shoe

“Sandal” from various European language. This is a broad borrowing, but it’s a distinctive word.

 

Short

“Fupi” from Swahili. “Fuxane” from Zulu.

 

Shrimp

“Ebi” from Japanese.

 

Side

“Starana” from Russian.

 

Sign (board)

“Sain” from English.

 

Silk

“Silka” from Tamil.

 

Similar/like

“Macam” from Singlish from Malay.

 

Sister

 

“Meimei” from Mandarin. “Dada” from Swahili is another possibility, but sounds like “Daddy” in English.

 

Sky

“Akax” from Hindi and Urdu.

 

Sleep

“Xuwi” from Cantonese. “Kulala” from Swahili is nice. “Slapen” from German is another possibility. Or

 

Small

“Mini” from English. Could be “kecil” from Indonesian.

 

Smart

“Inteli” from various European languages.

 

Snow

“Kaniqa” from Inuit. “Juki” from Japanese is another possibility.

 

Soap

“Sabun” from Arabic, Hindi, Tamil, Indonesian and other languages.

 

Soft

Could be “naram” from Hindi.

 

Soil/earth

“Kadar” from Arabic.

 

Son

“Filo” from Portuguese. Or “mwana” from Swahili.

 

Soon

"Maxan" from Mandarin. But could be "punde" from Swahili. Or "kwai" from Mandarin.

 

Sound

“Swono” from Italian?

 

South

“Kusini” (Swahili). “Nan” from Mandarin.

 

Space

“Speis” from English.

 

Spicy

“Pikante” from Spanish.

 

Spider

"Bwibwi" from Swahili.

 

Spring

"Bisna" from Russian. Could also be "lente" from Dutch/Afrikaans. Or "baxanto" from Bengali.

 

Square

“Plasa” from Tagalog. Could be “medan” from Arabic and Malay.

 

Star

“Stela” from Latin.

 

Steal

“Curi” from Singlish from Malay.

 

Steel

“Stil” from English.

 

Sting

“Pika” from Spanish.

 

Stomach

“Mide” from Turkish. Could be “beli” from Bislama.

 

Stone/rock

“Ston” from English. Could also be “batu” from Indonesian. Could also be “Kalkuli” from Latin.

 

Store/shop

“Butika” from French. Could be “tjenda” from Spanish.

 

Storm

“Tufan” from Arabic (used in typhoon as well).

 

Story/tale

“Kisa” from Arabic and Hindi. Or "kwenta" from Spanish.

 

Strange

“Gwai” from Mandarin.

 

Straight

Could be “polole” from Hawaiian. Or “kelin” from Sinhala.

 

Street/Road

"Kamino" from Spanish. Actually, there need to be subdivisions, such as avenues, streets, alleys. Street can be "malu" from Mandarin, and road "kamino" from Spanish.

 

Stripe

“Palasa” from Russian.

 

Study

"Logi" from Greek. Or "xuje" from Mandarin.

 

Subway

“Metro.”

 

Sudden

“Sasa” from Hindi (also Japanese similar).

 

Suffer

Could be “samsara” from Malay from Sanskrit.

 

Sugar

“Xuga” from English. Could be “gula” from Malay. Or “sukar” from Arabic.

 

Suitcase

“Xingli” from Mandarin.

 

Summer

"Ljeto" from Russian. Could be “nacu” from Japanese.

 

Sun

"Sol" from Latin.

 

Sweet

“Manis” from Indonesian.

 

Swim

“Naxe” from French, sort of.

 

System

“Sistem” from English.

 

Table

“Mesa” from Spanish. “Tabel” from English? “Stol” from Russian.

 

Target/goal

“Motif” from French.

 

Taste

“Lasa” from Tagalog.

 

Terrible

“Lihai” from Mandarin.

 

That (relative pronoun)

“Ke” from Spanish.

 

Theme

“Tema” from Spanish.

 

Thin/slender

Could be “tjao” from Mandarin.

 

Thing (Object)

 

Think

“Tiq” from English. Or “dum” from Russian.

 

Time (as in passage)

"Wela" from Thai. Could also be "tjempo" from Spanish.

 

Time (occasion)

“Kali” from Singlish from Malay. Could be “kai” from Japanese.

 

To

“Sa” from Tagalog. Could be “dao” from Mandarin. Could be “ko” from Hindi and Russian.

 

Tobacco

“Tabako.”

 

Toilet

“Twale” from French. Could be “kabine” from Bislama.

 

Too

“Sugi” from Japanese.

 

Tooth

"Danta" from Hindi. Could be "denta" from Latin.

 

Top

Could be “tupe.”

 

Touch

“Taci” from English.

 

Town

"Kasaba" from Turkish.

 

Train (railroad)

“Foce” from Cantonese? “Melati” from Malay. Or “kixa” from Japanese.

 

Travel/trip

Could be “safari” from Arabic.

 

Tree

"Akam" from Tamil. "Bom" from German is also nice.

 

Trifle

"Bagatela" from LF.

 

Troublesome

"Mafan" from Mandarin.

 

True/Truth

"Satja" from Hindi.

 

Try/Effort

"Nuli" from Mandarin.

 

Uncle

"Xuxu" from Mandarin.

 

Under

"Cini" from Swahili.

 

Understand

"Kapix" from Italian, commonly used as slang in other European languages.

 

Universe

“Kosmos”.

 

Up

“Atas” from Indonesian. Could be “swas” from Irish. Or “len” from Vietnamese.

 

Use

“Pakai” from Malaysian. Could be “yoq” from Mandarin.

 

Vague

“Aime” from Mandarin.

 

Valley

“Wadi” from Arabic. Or “dolina” from Russian? Or “lemba” from Indonesian/Malay.

 

Vegetable

Could be “legim” from Bislama.

 

Very

“Kweli” from Swahili. “Feichaq” from Mandarin is another option.

 

Village

“Desa” from Indonesian.

 

Violent

“Prabala” from Hindi.

 

Visit

“Bisita” from Spanish.

 

Wine

“Wain” from English.

 

Wall/obstacle

“Stina” from Russian. Or “kabe” from Japanese.

 

Want

A very common term. “Xiaq” from Mandarin. “Mau” from Indonesian is a possibility.

 

Warm

“Garam” from Hindi.

 

Wear

“Pakai” from Singlish from Malay.

 

Week

“Hafta” from Hindi and Turkish. “Nadal” from Estonian.

 

West

"Bati" from Turkish. Could be“xi” from Mandarin.

 

Wet

“Gila” from Hindi.

 

What

"Was"

 

Wheel

“Koliso” from Russian.

 

White

“Safeda” from Hindi. Or “bjel” from Russian. “Bjalo” from Hungarian. Could be “bjanko” Could be “cena” from Shona.

 

Wife

“Asawa” from Tagalog.

 

Win

“Tanti” from Vietnamese.

 

Wind

“Nasim” from Arabic.

 

Window

“Bentana” from LF.

 

Wine

“Bino” from Italian.

 

Winter

“Mwadoq” from Vietnamese. “Xita” from Arabic.

 

Wire

“Waja” from English.

 

Wise

“Gyani” from Hindi, I think. Could be “okox” from Hungarian. Could be “akel” from Bengali from Arabic.

 

With (Along with)

"Kon" from Spanish.

 

With (Using)

“Joq” from Mandarin.

 

Woman

“Oman” from Torres Strait Creole.

 

Wood

“Kaju” from Malay.

 

Word

"Kalim" from Arabic.

 

Work

“Kuli” from Chinese pidgin, originally from Tamil.

 

World

“Dunja” from Hindi, Arabic, Hausa, Swahili, Malay. Could be “tera” from Greek. Or “mundi” from Latin.

 

Worm

“Kida” from Hindi.

 

Write

“Kjan” from Thai. Could be “graf” from Greek. Or “kaki” from Japanese. Or “tulis” from Indonesian.

 

Wrong

“Sala” from Singlish, originally from Malay.

 

Year

"Njen" from Mandarin. Could be "Anjo” from Spanish.

 

 

Yellow

“Jelo” from English. Could be “pila” from Hindi.

 

Yes

“Ja” from both German and Indonesian.

 

You (singular)

“Ti” from many Slavic languages. Could be “ni” from Mandarin.