meaning
(number) two; separate, divide, split
see also
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
tutwo tally marks. compare mute and wan
sitelen sitelen
sitelen jelo
⏸️
sitelen Emosi
✌️
ucsur
U+F196E