Adinkra symbols and their meanings, including in dreams

Every Adinkra symbol is a proverb you can see. Know the proverb, and you can read the symbol, on cloth, on a wall, and in a dream.

In short

Adinkra symbols are the visual language of the Akan of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire: each symbol stands for a proverb.
Know the proverb and you can read the symbol: Gye Nyame for the supremacy of God, Sankofa for going back to your roots.
They began as stamped mourning cloth and are now worn worldwide, including in Suriname and the diaspora.
In a dream an Adinkra symbol asks above all about the proverb behind it, not for a fixed prediction.

Proverbs you can see

Adinkra symbols are the visual language of the Akan of Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. Each symbol is a small, bold design, and each one stands for a proverb, a saying or a value. Together they work like a vocabulary: a cloth, a wall or a piece of jewellery covered in Adinkra says something about faith, family, leadership, patience or death, without a word being written.

The best-known symbols, such as Gye Nyame and Sankofa, are now seen far beyond Ghana: on clothing, logos, tattoos and monuments across the African diaspora. That popularity is a good reason to learn what they actually mean. This guide explains where the symbols come from, how to read them, what eighteen of the most common symbols stand for, and what it can mean when one of them appears in a dream.

Where the name and the cloth come from

Adinkra began as cloth. Traditionally, symbols were printed by hand onto cotton with stamps carved from pieces of calabash, using a dark dye made from the bark of the badie tree. The town of Ntonso, near Kumasi in the Asante region, is still known for this craft, and visitors can watch the stamps being carved and the cloth being printed.

A widely told story links the name to Nana Kofi Adinkra, a king of Gyaman, whose robe is said to have carried such designs when he was defeated by the Asante in the early nineteenth century; the Asante then took the art as their own. The word is also linked to di nkra, to say goodbye, because Adinkra cloth in dark colours was traditionally worn at funerals as a farewell to the dead. One of the oldest known pieces was collected in Kumasi in 1817 by the British visitor Thomas Bowdich and is now in the British Museum.

Today Adinkra cloth is worn at funerals in its darker forms, and in brighter colours at festivals, church services and celebrations. The symbols also appear on gold weights, stools, pottery, buildings and coins.

How to read an Adinkra symbol

The key to any Adinkra symbol is its proverb. A heart is not simply love: Akoma speaks of patience, of having heart. A crocodile is not simply danger: Denkyem speaks of adaptability, because it lives in water yet breathes air. Two crocodiles sharing one stomach, Funtunfunefu Denkyemfunefu, warn against quarrelling over what you already share.

Some symbols have more than one form or name, and explanations differ a little between regions and families. Charts printed today often agree on the main meaning but vary in detail. Where that happens, the older proverb usually explains the image best.

Adinkra symbols are not charms. Wearing Gye Nyame does not protect you by itself, and printing Mmusuyidee does not remove bad luck. They express what a person believes, hopes for or wants to remember. That is also how they are read in dreams: as a message to think about, not as a spell or a prediction.

Eighteen Adinkra symbols at a glance

The name, its literal meaning, what it stands for, and what it may point to when it appears in a dream. Follow a name for its full page.

Symbol	Literally	Stands for	In a dream, it may point to
Gye Nyame	except God	God's supremacy; trust	letting go of what is beyond you
Sankofa	go back and get it	learning from the past	a past place or person with something to give
Nyame Dua	God's tree (altar)	God's presence and protection	blessing and a household that is held
Denkyem	crocodile	adaptability	living between two worlds
Funtunfunefu Denkyemfunefu	two crocodiles, one stomach	unity in diversity	a conflict where fates are shared
Dwennimmen	ram's horns	humility with strength	when to stand firm and when to bow
Adinkrahene	chief of Adinkra	greatness, leadership	stepping into responsibility
Akoma	heart	patience, tolerance	holding on with patience
Eban	fence	love, safety, security	what feels protected or exposed
Mmusuyidee	that which removes bad luck	good fortune, sanctity	what can be cleared away
Nkyinkyim	twisting	initiative, versatility	a road that bends, not a wrong road
Aya	fern	endurance, resourcefulness	strength already shown
Duafe	wooden comb	beauty, care, good conduct	caring for yourself or others
Hye Won Hye	that which does not burn	imperishability, endurance	coming through a trial
Osram ne Nsoromma	the moon and the star	faithful love, harmony	a bond that waits and stays
Mpatapo	knot of reconciliation	peacemaking	a quarrel that can be settled
Bese Saka	sack of cola nuts	abundance, unity	sharing what you have
Fawohodie	independence	freedom, emancipation	a wish to stand on your own

Meanings follow the commonly given proverbs; explanations vary a little between regions and families. Dream indications are ways of looking, not predictions.

A closer look at the best-known symbols

Gye Nyame, except God, is the most widely used: it expresses the supremacy of Onyame, the creator, and for many people it is a simple statement of faith. Sankofa, go back and get it, shows a bird looking backwards with an egg in its beak, or a heart with curled ends: it says it is not wrong to return to what you forgot, and in the diaspora it has become a symbol of recovering roots.

Nyame Dua, God's tree, is named after an altar to the supreme god that stood in the courtyard of a home, a forked post holding a vessel of water. Dwennimmen, the ram's horns, joins strength and humility: the ram fights hard but bows when it must. Adinkrahene, three concentric circles, is called the chief of all the symbols and stands for leadership and greatness.

Each of these, and several more, has its own page on Dreamkin with the full proverb, its use in daily life and its meaning in dreams.

Adinkra in the diaspora

Adinkra travelled with the Akan, and later with the descendants of people taken from the Gold Coast. In the United States, the Caribbean, Suriname and the Netherlands, the symbols have become a way of naming an African inheritance that slavery tried to erase. Sankofa appears on monuments and in names of organisations; Gye Nyame is worn as a sign of faith; Adinkra cloth is chosen for weddings and graduations.

For Surinamese readers there is a deeper link. Akan ideas reached Suriname with enslaved people, and the Winti tradition still carries echoes of them, from the name of the kromanti to the importance of the ancestors. Around Keti Koti, the commemoration of the abolition of slavery, Sankofa is often mentioned as a symbol of remembering in order to move forward.

Adinkra symbols in dreams

Adinkra symbols can appear in dreams in several ways. Sometimes the symbol itself is seen: printed on cloth, carved in a door, drawn on a wall or worn as jewellery. More often the dream shows the image the symbol is based on: a bird looking back, a crocodile between water and bank, ram's horns, a fern growing from stone, a fence around a house.

In an Akan reading, such a dream is read through the proverb that belongs to the image. A bird looking back may point to something in the past that has something to give; a fern may point to endurance already shown; a fence may ask what feels protected or exposed in your life. The table above gives a short indication for each symbol, and each linked page goes further.

Akan tradition also asks who might be speaking. Dreams of ancestors, the nsamanfo, are taken seriously, and a symbol that appears together with a deceased family member is read with them in mind. For dreams that weigh on you, the tradition's advice is to bring them to a family elder, and in some families to an ɔkɔmfo, a priest or priestess, rather than to settle them alone.

As with every reading on Dreamkin, these are ways of looking, not predictions. A symbol in a dream does not mean something will happen; it offers a proverb to think with.

Using Adinkra with respect

Because Adinkra symbols are so visible, many people use them in tattoos, logos, artwork and clothing. That can be a fine way to honour the culture, provided the meaning is understood. A few simple habits help: learn the proverb behind the symbol before you use it, avoid presenting symbols as magic or as a guarantee, and where you can, buy Adinkra cloth and stamps from Ghanaian makers, such as the artisans of Ntonso.

Symbols linked to God, such as Gye Nyame and Nyame Dua, are especially meaningful to many people. Using them with care is a matter of respect for those who hold them as statements of faith.