Toki Pona · 7 September 2026

A word a day week

suli

SU-li · /ˈsuli/ · content word

  • big
  • important
  • long
  • adult

Finnish suuri, ‘big’, is trimmed to Toki Pona’s phonology and grows semantically to cover size, importance, maturity, and length.

Borrowed luggage

Where it came from

Finnishsuuri Toki Ponasuli

Suli is borrowed from Finnish suuri, ‘big’ or ‘large’; Toki Pona lacks r, so the adapted form uses l.

  • Finnish suuri

Tiny sentence

ma suli li pona.

land big PRED good

“The big land is good.”

Modifiers follow their head: suli describes ma. The same phrase might be understood as a country, continent, or simply large area.

Receipts

Sources and cautions

The sound adaptation is documented; the generous modern semantic range comes from Toki Pona usage and context.