Entries | AraYeke Taino Living Dictionary

Entries

Barbakoa— Barbecue
Hikotea/Jicotea— Land and fresh water turtles
liren— fruit
Yaguasa— duck
Konkoní— Grasshoppers, crickets, and locusts
Guakamaio— macaw
Higüero— Oviedo and Pedro Martyr use this word to designate the tree that produces the fruit called higüera, and they warn not to confuse it with higuero or higuera. We believe that the indigenous word was higüera or jigüera, but not higüero.
Pitahaya/Pitajaya— Pitahaya. — Very common cactus, which adheres to the trunk and branches of trees. It produces beautiful flowers and a round fruit the size of an orange, which when ripe takes on a red color, its interior being a white, grayish pulp, dotted with black seeds, very similar to the prickly pear, or fruit of the white prickly pear. . Casas describes the pitahaya in the following terms: “The shell is red on the outside and has certain not good thorns in it; the inside is almost like that of a ripe breva , with some very black granites like those of the paharies figs of Castile , and of the breva making ; something is tasty and fresh. The tree in which it is born are some long pencas and of the nature of the çabila de Castilla. . . And one of the pitahaya stalks comes out of the ground and perches on other trees, and spreads through them, looking like snakes, and from this a few other stalks come out, and all of them are full of thorns. "
guayaba— Guava fruit
ector— sweet, tender corn
Atiao— Brother
caona— gold
Biahaní— A word used for doves and pigeons.
Kukubano/Cucubano— Illuminating click beetle
Kalina— chicken
Bibihagua/Bibijagua— Ants
Jáiba— River crabs of the genus Epilobocera. Las Casas writes xayba. epilobocera haytensis
auyama— pumpkin
Pu— Scarlet Red
Hahom/Jajom— Thank you
maní— Peanut
mamey— Mamey fruit (scientific name: Mammea Americana)
Mime— little fly/gnat
Jeiti / Heiti— black
Kao/Cao— Crow
Guaba— Cave spiders, also called tailless whip scorpions. They use their powerful pincher-bearing front legs to catch their prey, usually small animals, frogs and crustaceans. They are among the largest arachnid species, growing between 19 to 25 inches long.
Hutía/jutía— moderately large cavy-like rodents of the subfamily Capromyinae that inhabit the Caribbean Islands.
guatoána— orange (color)
Tona— water (kalinago)
Cayajobo— Matte red
ajiaco— soup made traditionally with cassava, fish and meat.
Sabana— Word of the Indians of Haiti and Cuba, to designate an extension of flat land, not very fertile and with few trees. This word is currently applied in the same sense, which we believe would more genuinely represent its true phonetics, writing it with Z, since the authors of the time of the conquest said Zabana and Cabana, or Zavana and Cavana.
Jaujáu, Xauxáu— White yuca bread, much thinner than casabi.
Guatibirí— the bird currently called "pitirre", "pestigre", "petigre" (Tyrannus dominicensis). Gray kingbird
jibiria— watermelon
Maba— honey
Ni— Water
Kati, Katsi, Karaya— moon
arepa— corn patty, cake
jeitiyú— gray
yu— white
Hime— general term for fish
Bibi— Mother
Manatí/Manatee— (Family Trichechidae, genus Trichechus) are large, fully aquatic, mostly herbivorous marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows.
Baba— Father
Wuchi— bird
kai— food
Buti— Light blue
Turey— sky
kotúro, rahua— green
Anona— Annona squamosa.
Setí— Fish, scientific name Sicydium plumieri
Iwana, Iguana— Iguana
Gutúsu— Blue
iri— Name
Güajey— güiro, in which lines or parallel slits are made, to scrape on it, and produce a harsh sound, which serves as an accompaniment to a musical instrument. This denomination is preserved in Puerto Rico. It was made from animal bone with notches, an antecedent of the modern day güiro.
Inriri— Woodpecker
Guaraguao— Red Tailed Hawk found in the Caribbean
Yamúy— cat
Guajamón— Color yellow
ababey— Species of orange from the Antilles
anigua, morádo— purple
Korí/Corí— Guinea Pig
guanime— corn bread, corn pudding
Huya— rain
Kolibrí/Colibrí— Hummingbird
Uicú, Uikú— A fermented drink made from the juice of the yuca root.
Tanama— Butterfly
maví, mabí— fermented drink made from the bark of the mavi tree. Also known as Maubey in the English-speaking Caribbean islands.
maisi, mahisi— corn
Kokí/Coquí— species of small frogs in the genus Eleutherodactylus native to Puerto Rico.
oánake— brown
Jején— mosquito
Guaicano— remora/suckerfish Scientific name: Echeneis naucrates.
casabi— A Traditional bread made from yuca
tibisi— vegetable
Inaru— Woman
Behike— A member within the Taino community who has knowledge of the many medicinal plants, herbs and charged with curing various illnesses as well as participating in spiritual and ceremonial protocols
Guatú— fire
Okama/Ocama— Listen
Cocuyo/Kokuyo— a bioluminescent genus of click beetle
tureyoánaketa— rainbow
Aón— dog
Kanoa/Canoa— Canoe
Anani— Combination of the word "Ana" (Flower) and "Ni" (Water)
maríyan, subule— yellow
cosuba— The film that covers the grain of corn
Ita— Red
Guanajo/Guanaho— turkey
Maja/Maha— A boa constrictor
Boba— snake
Guazabara/Guasabara— War
Tureygua/Tureigua— "Bachiller accepts that this word means "light, brilliance”. We understand that it is formed by the word Turey —sky or firmament— and the demonstrative or determining article Gua, and can be translated as “celestial, celestial”, that is, something from heaven, which belongs to heaven, or is in heaven."
chicha— beer or a fermented drink made from corn
Múkaro/Múcaro— owl
Sibukán— A long, woven strainer used to extract toxins from the grated Yuca.
Oána— Color
Kaguama/Caguama— A species of sea turtle, known as the Loggerhead (caretta caretta)
itayú— pink
Itu— Sister
Kaimán/Caimán— an alligatorid belonging to the subfamily Caimaninae, one of two primary lineages within Alligatoridae, the other being alligators.
Burukena— Freshwater Crab (epilobocera sinuatifrons) found in streams of Puerto Rico and on Saint Croix (the U.S. Virgin Islands).