Ese ne Tekrema
Ese ne Tekrema, “the teeth and the tongue”, is the adinkra symbol of friendship and interdependence: the two work together, and sometimes clash.
Meaning
Ese ne Tekrema is an Akan symbol from Ghana, stamped on adinkra cloth. The design-tools table at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute translates it as “The teeth and the tongue” and gives its meaning as “Friendship, interdependence”. Anthony Zamblé, writing in The Covenant Quarterly in 2023, gives the proverb as “Even the teeth and the tongue fight”, and reads it this way: the teeth and the tongue are made to work together, and still some conflict is to be expected in the closest of unions.
Read next
- Next in Adinkra symbolsBese SakaBese Saka, a bunch of kola nuts, is the adinkra symbol of affluence, abundance and unity.
- The same shape in Animal symbolismSpider symbolismIn British and American folklore it is unlucky to kill a spider, and a small one on your clothes means money or a letter. In stories the spider is a weaver and a bringer: Arachne in Ovid, Spider Woman in Diné (Navajo) tradition, the Cherokee Water Spider who brought fire, and Anansi of the Gold Coast and Jamaica.
See also
Funtunfunefu Denkyemfunefu (Siamese crocodiles), Gye Nyame, Nyame Dua, Nsoromma (star), Osram ne Nsoromma (moon and star), Sankofa.
Sources
- A Reconstruction of African Religion through Adinkra Symbology (Anthony Zamblé 2023), Anthony Zamblé, “A Reconstruction of African Religion through Adinkra Symbology”, The Covenant Quarterly 81, no. 2 (2023): 18–31, The Covenant Quarterly (North Park Theological Seminary), p. 26
- 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
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from circles or lines.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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