Akoma Ntoso
Akoma Ntoso, “linked hearts”, is the adinkra symbol of understanding and agreement.
Meaning
Akoma Ntoso is an Akan symbol from Ghana, stamped on adinkra cloth and carved on the African Burial Ground memorial in New York. The design-tools table at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute translates the name as “Linked hearts” and gives its meaning as “Understanding, agreement”; the National Park Service glosses the carving in New York as “Understanding”, and its page on the symbol describes four hearts linked together, for mutual sympathy and the immortality of the soul, and for unity in families and communities. The hearts are abstracted: the carving has a disc at the centre and four arms, each ending in a half-round cap, and the drawing here follows it. The single heart, Akoma, is a symbol of its own.
A name for a legal standard
The name has travelled beyond cloth and stone. Akoma Ntoso is also an OASIS standard, approved in August 2018, for machine-readable parliamentary, legislative and judicial documents such as laws, debate records and judgments. OASIS explains the name as “linked hearts” in Akan, the language of the part of West Africa where the work began.
Read next
- Next in Adinkra symbolsFuntunfunefu Denkyemfunefu (Siamese crocodiles)Funtunfunefu Denkyemfunefu are the Siamese crocodiles, two crocodiles with one stomach that still fight over food. The adinkra symbol stands for unity in diversity.
- The same shape in Catholic symbolsRosaryA string of beads in five groups of ten, with a crucifix, used to pray the Rosary: a Catholic prayer of Hail Marys counted on the beads while meditating on events in the lives of Jesus and Mary.
See also
Akoma (the heart), Gye Nyame, Nyame Dua, Nsoromma (star), Osram ne Nsoromma (moon and star), Sankofa.
Sources
- Adinkra Symbols Explained (African Burial Ground National Monument), National Park Service, African Burial Ground National Monument, “Adinkra Symbols Explained” (last updated 30 June 2021), U.S. National Park Service, list of the symbols in the memorial
- Adinkra Symbols (Culturally Situated Design Tools), Culturally Situated Design Tools (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, with the National Science Foundation), “Adinkra: Symbols”, Culturally Situated Design Tools, table of symbols
- Akoma Ntoso V1.0 (#AKN) OASIS Standard published (OASIS Open), OASIS Open, “Akoma Ntoso V1.0 (#AKN) OASIS Standard published”, 11 September 2018, OASIS Open, Announcement text
- AKOMA NTOSO - Understanding (African Burial Ground National Monument), National Park Service, African Burial Ground National Monument, “AKOMA NTOSO - Understanding” (last updated 30 June 2021), U.S. National Park Service, Page text
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from circles or crosses.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 10, 2026. How we research
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