typee

Borrowed from Guyanese Creole English typee; further origin unknown, claimed to be from an Indo-Aryan language but no etymon has been found.^[1]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈtaɪpi/
• (Carribean) IPA^(key): /ˈtaipi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Hyphenation: ty‧pee

typee (uncountable)

1. (Guyana) Intense lovesickness; infatuation, limerence.
   • 1976 June 27, Guyana Chronicle, Georgetown, Guyana: Guyana National Newspaper, →OCLC, page 6:

     The fact that stuck in my head, however, that the prettiest thing to one crow is another crow, a male monkey sees a female monkey the way Romeo had ‘typee’ for his Juliet.

   • 1994 May, Bernard Heydorn, “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, in Walk Good Guyana Boy, Newmarket, Ont.: Learning Improvement Centre, published March 1998, →ISBN, page 205:

     Stephen continued to see more of Sarah, after the Black Friday riots. He had typee for her; she was constantly in his thoughts.

   • 2011 October 27, Helena Martin, “1958 James Street, Albouystown”, in Walk wit’ Me … All ova Guyana: Memoir of Helena Martin, Bloomington, Ind.: Balboa Press, Hay House, →ISBN, page 148:

     I played chasie (tag) with him and the other children in the yard, but I am certain Oswald never knew I had typee for him. The love affair was short lived, because we only lived there for a short time.

• infatuation on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• limerence on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• lovesickness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Richard Allsopp, editor (2003), “typee”, in Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage, Kingston, Jamaica: University of the West Indies Press, →ISBN, page 573.