tu

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meaning

(number) two; separate, divide, split

see also

kipisi

semantic space · lipamanka

tu is, at its core, an act of seperation. in toki pona, if there are two of something, one is framing them as separate. you don't need to modify a word with tu in order for there to be two of it, so using tu is saying something: I am separating these two things. "kili tu" can evoke an importance between two heads of lettuce. tu is used frequently as a verb to mean "cut" or "divide." it can be used for cutting something into more than two pieces because tu doesn't specify a specific amount of times. like "mi tu e kili" could describe four separate cuts, which could be up to 16 pieces! tu can also be metaphysical, describing divorce or any type of distance between people or objects with enough context. some other good examples of tu are splitting up a class into two groups or drawing the boundaries between two subparts of a large piece of land, potentially in a colonial context.

ku translations

two100 pair88 double80 both64 couple50 twice50 cut38 divide35

pu verbatim

  • NUMBER two

usage

core · 100% usage

found in pu

coined pre-pu

origin

multiple

English · two

Esperanto · du ‘two’

coined by jan Sonja

listen

kala Asi

jan Lakuse

sitelen pona

tu

two tally marks. compare mute and wan

sitelen sitelen

tu sitelen sitelen

sitelen jelo

⏸️

sitelen Emosi

✌️

ucsur

U+F196E

luka pona

gif · mp4