ti bon ange

noun

In voodoo, one of the dualistic aspects of the soul, responsible for personality, character, and willpower.

Meanings

nounti bon ange (plural ti bon anges)

plural ti bon anges · alternative tibonanj · alternative ti bon anj

  1. In voodoo, one of the dualistic aspects of the soul, responsible for personality, character, and willpower.

    Here we begin to see that there is a cooperative relationship between the tibonanj and the gwobonanj.

    2013, Carol P. Marsh-Lockett, Elizabeth J. West, editors, Literary Expressions of African Spirituality, page 103
    3 more examples

    Indeed it is characteristic of the almost anonymous, transcendent, spiritual nature of the ti-bon-ange that it is automatically liberated at the moment of death and hovers over the body for nine days before ascending to heaven.

    1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 44

    Throughout this period the ti bon ange is extremely vulnerable, and it is not until it is liberated from the flesh to descend below the dark abysmal waters that it is relatively safe.

    1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 182

    For them, the act of zombification is a matter of capturing the ti bon anj and thus exerting an absolute power over the individual.

    1995, Laënnec Hurbon, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 192

Origin

  1. Frenchpetit bon ange“little good angel”
  2. Englishti bon ange

From Haitian Creole, from French petit bon ange (“little good angel”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

ti bon ange. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ti%20bon%20ange

MLA

“ti bon ange.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ti%20bon%20ange. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ti bon ange,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ti%20bon%20ange.

Source: ti bon ange on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.