Many languages are spoken on the moon and the vocabulary cheerfully borrows words from Chinese, Portuguese, Russian, Yoruba, Spanish, Arabic, Akan.
A: Common contraction for asexual.
Abusua: Group of people who share a common maternal ancestor. AKA maintains them and their marriage taboos to preserve genetic diversity.
Adinkra: Akan visual symbols that represent concepts or aphorisms. Widely used by the Asamoah family.
Amor: Lover/partner.
Amory: Polyamorys, one of the moon’s many forms of partnering and marriage.
Anjinho: Little angel. Corta term of endearment.
Banya: Russian sauna and steam bath.
Blackstar: AKA surface worker (derived from the nickname of the Ghana national football team).
Chib: A small virtual pane in an interactive contact lens that shows the state of an individual’s accounts for the Four Elementals.
Coracão: My heart. A term of endearment.
Ekata: The oneness, the group mind of a wolf pack.
Escolta: Bodyguard.
Four Elementals: Air, water, carbon and data. The basic commodities of lunar existence, paid for daily by the chib system.
Galah: Australian rose-breasted cockatoo, used as a slang term for a noisy idiot.
Globo: A simplified form of English, the lingua franca of the moon, with a codified pronunciation comprehensible by machines.
Gupshup: The main gossip channel on the lunar social network.
Irmã/irmão: Sister/brother.
Jackaroo: Mackenzie Metals slang for a surface worker, from an Australian word for a male apprentice sheep-station hand.
Jo/Joe Moonbeam: New arrival on the moon.
Junshi: Second in command of a Taiyang surface squad.
Keji-oko: Second spouse.
Kotoko: AKA council, of rotating memberships.
Kuozhao: dust-mask.
Ladeira: A staircase from one level of a quadra to another.
Laoda: Boss of a Taiyang surface squad.
Laowei: Mandarin Chinese slang term for non-Chinese.
Madrinha: surrogate mother. Literally ‘Godmother’.
Mãe/Mamãe: Mother/Mum.
Malandragem: The art of the trickster, bad-assery.
Miudo: Child.
Moto: Three-wheel automated cab.
Nana: Ashanti term of respect to an elder.
Nikah: A marriage contract. The term comes from Arabic.
Oko: Spouse in marriage.
Omahene: CEO of AKA, on an eight-year cycle rotation.
Orixa: Deities and saints in the syncretistic Afro-Brazilian umbanda religion.
Santinhos: ‘Little Saints’. Slang name for residents of João de Deus.
Sasuit: Surface Activity suit.
Saudade: Homesick melancholy. A sophisticated and essential element of bossa nova music.
Ser: Form of address used to a neutro.
Tia/tio: Aunt/uncle.
Zabbaleen: Freelance organics recyclers, who then sell on what they find to the LDC, which owns all organic material.
Zashitnik: A hired fighter in trial by combat: literally defender, advocate.