Quite a few people have recently stumbled upon my blog in search of the definition of the Jamaican patois word “cyah.” So, as a public service (and as a way of getting more visitors), I’ll do my part to help with the development of the Jamaican patois lexicon. The word cyah (pronounced key-ah, but not as two syllables) is the Jamaican pronunciation of can’t. As in, “Dem cyah find Osama bin Laden,” which, translated, would be “They cannot find Osama bin Laden.”

As a further public service, I’ve included an audio clip of how a Jamaican would say the above sentence. Don’t thank me, just send money.

Click here for mp3 audio of cyah