meaning
see, look, view, examine, read, watch; visual; eye, seeing organ; (preverb) try to
see also
semantic space · lipamanka
lukin is both passive seeing and active watching. it can also mean something that sees, like eyes or a camera. lukin is also used as a preverb that means to "try" to do something. In practice, oko usually occupies the same semantic space of lukin, but speakers of Romance languages who learn toki pona are likely to use "oko" more than "lukin" to mean "eye." There are also a handful of speakers that only use oko, but only using lukin is far more common.
pu verbatim
- NOUN eye
- VERB to look at, see, examine, observe, read, watch
- PRE-VERB to seek, look for, try to
ku translations
see100 observe92 look at86 sight85 gaze83 observation83 check77 view74 scan67 watch65 visual64 examine60 inspection60 vision60 notice53 appearance50 attention50 surveillance50 examination47 detect46 assess40 stare38 perceive36 perception36 try36 glance33 impression33 reading31 regard (v)29 apparent27 read27 visible27 eye26 seek26 encounter25 investigation25 monitor25
usage
core · 99% usage
found in pu
coined pre-pu
origin
Tok Pisin · lukim ‘see, look at’
English · look
English · him
coined by jan Sonja
listen
kala Asi
jan Lakuse
commentary
In common usage (both before and after pu), "lukin" and "oko" are separate words, each with their own meaning. In pu, they are considered synonyms. Those who consider them synonyms typically don't use "oko" at all, preferring "lukin" in all circumstances. The usage of "alasa" as a preverb meaning "try to" is more common than "lukin". In pu, only "lukin" has this meaning. A very common beginner mistake is treating "lukin" as if it means "appearance", due to the mistakenly equating the "visual" meaning as in "pona lukin (visually good)" to mean "looks good".
sitelen pona
lukinpictogram of an eye. compare blissymbol “eye”
sitelen sitelen
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sitelen Emosi
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ucsur
U+F192E