meaning
(third-person pronoun) he, she, it, they
see also
semantic space · lipamanka
ona is the only third person pronoun in toki pona. unlike ni, ona is seldom used except for to point at objects from previous sentences, i.e. toki ponists don't usually use it to talk about things they're pointing at. ona has no animacy connotation, just as no toki pona word does (except for maybe jan). ona can just as easily refer to a block of wood or a doorknob as it can to a human or animal. It also has no gender connotation, just like every other toki pona word, so it can just as easily mean he or she or they.
ku translations
its100, her95, them90, their83, he80, him80, she80, they79, his73, it73, themselves53, itself47, herself36, himself36
pu verbatim
NOUN he, she, it, they
usage
core · 100% usage
found in pu
coined pre-pu
origin
Serbo-Croatian · она ona ‘she’
coined by jan Sonja
commentary
This word was coined in a poll in 2002. It replaced "iki", which was deemed too similar-sounding to "ike". Other options in the poll included "ipi" and "i".
sitelen pona
onaperhaps a hand pointing sideways. compare mi and sina
sitelen sitelen
sitelen jelo
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sitelen Emosi
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ucsur
U+F1946