rasta
A Rastafarian: an adherent of the Rastafari movement, a Jamaican-born religious and cultural tradition that emerged in the 1930s among the descendants of enslaved Africans.
Definitions
A Rastafarian: an adherent of the Rastafari movement, a Jamaican-born religious and cultural tradition that emerged in the 1930s among the descendants of enslaved Africans. The name comes from Ras Tafari Makonnen, the pre-coronation name of Ethiopian emperor Haile Selassie I, whom Rastas regard as the messianic returned Christ and the living embodiment of Jah (God). Core practices and themes include the wearing of dreadlocks, an Ital (natural, often vegetarian) diet, the sacramental use of ganja for meditation, and a strong identification with Africa, repatriation and liberation from "Babylon" — the oppressive Western/colonial system. The word is also used loosely (and sometimes loosely enough to annoy actual adherents) to describe anyone with locs, reggae taste or a vaguely Afrocentric aesthetic.
the elder rasta blessed the gathering before the drumming started
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🗺️About Regional & Other slang
Regional slang from around the English-speaking world — British, Australian, Irish, Caribbean, Nigerian, Filipino, AAVE, and the hyphenated-English dialects that make the internet sound local.
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Other words near "rasta" (R)
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Related terms
Semantically related
- dread66%
In Caribbean usage, primarily a clipping of "dreadlocks" — the matted, rope-like hairstyle most strongly associated with Rastafari, where the locks are understood as a covenant of faith rooted in the Nazarite vow of Numbers 6. By extension "dread" is also used as a respectful, affectionate term of address for a Rastafarian or for any locs-wearing person of like-minded outlook ("alright, dread?"), similar to how "bredren" works between male peers. The word also keeps its older Rastafarian metaphysical sense of holy awe — the "dread" of righteousness in the face of Babylon — which is where the hair style took its name in the first place. Hugely common in reggae, dub and roots lyrics from the 1970s onward.
- groundation63%
A Rastafarian meeting.
- I and I62%
The distinctive Rastafarian first-person pronoun, used in place of both "I" and "we". Rather than separating the speaker from others or from God, "I and I" (also written "InI" or "I-n-I") asserts the unity of the individual self with Jah and with all other Rastas: the second "I" represents the divine presence in the speaker, so every statement is at once personal and communal. The construction also extends to other pronouns ("I-man" for "me", "Iyaric" for the broader vocabulary), part of a deliberate reworking of English Rastas call Iyaric or "I-talk" to strip out colonial connotations. Common throughout roots reggae lyrics (Bob Marley, Burning Spear, Peter Tosh) and serious Rasta conversation; rarely used outside the movement except as an explicit nod to it.
- fyah bun56%
Literally "fire burn"; a symbolic condemnation, denunciation or curse against something the speaker considers corrupt, oppressive or unrighteous. Rooted in Rastafarian theology, where fyah is the purifying judgement of Jah against Babylon — the colonial, racist, materialist system — "fyah bun" is shouted (or written in lyrics) at politicians, police brutality, hypocrisy, sellouts and exploitative industry practices alike. The phrase carries genuine religious and political weight in Rasta communities and is used seriously in roots reggae, conscious dancehall and Caribbean activist speech rather than as a casual joke; outside that context it can read as performative when borrowed without understanding. Often paired with a list of targets ("fyah bun Babylon, fyah bun corruption, fyah bun the wicked").
- fyah54%
Patois spelling of "fire", used both literally and as a powerful figurative word for excellence, intensity or righteous condemnation. In Rastafarian usage fyah carries a heavy spiritual charge: it represents purity, divine judgement, the life-force and the cleansing destruction of corruption ("fyah bun Babylon" — fire burn the oppressive system). In secular dancehall and Caribbean pop culture it works much like "fire" in African American English, marking something as exceptionally hot, skilled or hype — a track, a verse, a dance, an outfit. Often paired with the flame emoji online and shouted as a one-word approval in dancehall sessions. The spelling deliberately reflects Patois pronunciation rather than English orthography.