Toki Pona · 12 October 2026
A word a day week
akesi
A-ke-si · /ˈakesi/ · content word
- reptile
- amphibian
- non-cute animal
Dutch hagedis, ‘lizard’, is radically smoothed into akesi and grows into a category whose emotional boundary is famously context-sensitive.
Borrowed luggage
Where it came from
Dutchhagedis
Toki Ponaakesi
Akesi is borrowed from Dutch hagedis, ‘lizard’, with consonants and syllables adapted to Toki Pona’s inventory.
- Dutch hagedis
Tiny sentence
akesi li lon poka telo.
reptile PRED at side.of water
“A reptile is beside the water.”
Poka literally concerns side or proximity; lon poka telo supplies the location phrase.
Receipts
Sources and cautions
Older glosses sometimes overemphasise ‘non-cute’. Actual categorisation varies, so the page lists the zoological centre before the cultural joke.