tokiponize

to·ki·po·nize
T1O1K5I1P3O1N1I1Z10E1
UK/ˈtəʊ.ki.pəʊˌnaɪz/UK/ˌtəʊ.kiˈpəʊ.naɪz/

verb

To transliterate (a name or loanword) into the phonology of Toki Pona.

Scrabble 25

Meanings

tokiponize1

verbtokiponize (third-person singular simple present tokiponizes, present participle tokiponizing, simple past and past participle tokiponized)

present singular third person tokiponizes · participle present tokiponizing · participle past tokiponized · past tokiponized · alternative tokiponise · alternative Tokiponize · alternative Tokiponise

  1. transitiveTo transliterate (a name or loanword) into the phonology of Toki Pona.

    About the last translation, some would deem necessary to tokiponize names, i.e. turning all the sounds not present in toki pona into their closest toki pona equivalent.

    2024 March 3, Fabio, “Toki Pona Explained: Driving Change through Language”, in Turbolangs
    2 more examples

    I know of lipu Linku. However, it doesn’t have the names for all the ma and toki (e.g. toki Inli, ma Mewika, etc.), and I do not know all the endonyms so that I can tokiponize as needed. Is there a site with those? I know Wiktionary has some, but only in an appendix and it’s inconvenient to access.

    2023 June 15, Qaziquza, Lemmy.World

    I live in the U.S. state of Arizona, and most people who speak Toki Pona would tokiponize this place as "ma Awisona pi ma Mewika." However, I will maintain that this is not correct; the correct tokiponization is "ma Alisona pi ma Mewika." There is a very good reason for changing the "w" to an "l": the English name "Arizona" comes from the O'odham name "alĭ ṣonak," which tokiponizes to "ma Alisona." […] However, somewhere like, say, New Mexico would be tokiponized as "ma Jotojajoso" (based off of the Navajo name "Yootó Hahoodzo").

    (Can we date this quote?), “"ma Awisona" is incorrect”, in lipu pi ijo pi toki pona
  2. transitiveTo translate or localize into Toki Pona.

Tokiponize2

verbTokiponize (third-person singular simple present Tokiponizes, present participle Tokiponizing, simple past and past participle Tokiponized)

present singular third person Tokiponizes · participle present Tokiponizing · participle past Tokiponized · past Tokiponized

  1. Alternative letter-case form of tokiponize.

Origin

From Toki Pona + -ize, likely by analogy with romanize or Esperantize or similar.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Esperanto tokiponigi, tokiponigi
  • tokiponigitransliterate
  • tokiponigitranslate
German tokiponisieren
  • tokiponisierentransliterate
Polish tokiponizować, stokiponizować
  • tokiponizowaćtransliterate
  • stokiponizowaćtransliterate
  • tokiponizowaćtranslate
  • stokiponizowaćtranslate
Russian токипонизировать, токипонизовать
  • токипонизировать (tokiponizirovatʹ)transliterate
  • токипонизовать (tokiponizovatʹ)transliterate
Ukrainian токіпонізовувати, токіпонізувати
  • токіпонізовувати (tokiponizovuvaty)transliterate
  • токіпонізувати (tokiponizuvaty)transliterate
Cite this entry
APA

tokiponize. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tokiponize

MLA

“tokiponize.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tokiponize. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “tokiponize,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/tokiponize.

Source: tokiponize on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.