Funtunfunefu 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.
Meaning
Funtunfunefu Denkyemfunefu is an Akan symbol from Ghana, stamped on adinkra cloth and cast as a goldweight. J. E. T. Kuwornu-Adjaottor, George Appiah and Melvin Nartey of KNUST give its literal meaning as “The Siamese crocodiles have one stomach yet they fight over food when eating” and its symbolic meaning as “Unity in diversity”. The National Park Service glosses the carving at the African Burial Ground in New York the same way; the design-tools table at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has “Democracy, unity in diversity”.
Origin and history
The proverb is in print by 1916. R. S. Rattray recorded it in Ashanti Proverbs: the “two-headed crocodiles” have “but one belly for both”, yet fight among themselves for whatever either of them gets. He described the creature as a mythical crocodile with two heads and two necks merging into one belly, which merges again into two tails, and noted that it was one of the Asante goldweights. The name, he wrote, means literally “Bellies mixed up, crocodiles mixed up”. Sources spell it differently: Funtumfrafu (Rattray), Funtumfunafu (Owusu), Funtunfunafu (the KNUST authors).
Two forms
Philip Owusu of the University of Ghana shows the symbol in both its forms: the pictorial form of the goldweights, two crocodiles joined at the belly, and the abstract form stamped on cloth. The drawing here is the abstract form, as the African Burial Ground carving has it: a lozenge with a spearhead at each of its four ends, each flanked by two scrolls.
Readings
Owusu counts it among the symbols that remember the incorporation of other communities into the Asante kingdom, and calls it “an icon of siamese crocodiles signifying unity in diversity”. The KNUST authors liken the shared stomach to a common purpose in democratic government, where different views are debated to make good policy. Anthony Zamblé (The Covenant Quarterly, 2023) draws the lesson that people with shared goals do best when they work together.
Often confused with Denkyem
Denkyem is the single crocodile, a symbol of adaptability.
Read next
- Next in Adinkra symbolsEse ne TekremaEse ne Tekrema, “the teeth and the tongue”, is the adinkra symbol of friendship and interdependence: the two work together, and sometimes clash.
- The same shape in Catholic symbolsAgnus Dei (Lamb of God)A lamb, usually with a halo and carrying a cross-staff with a banner: Christ as the Lamb of God, from John the Baptist’s words “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”
See also
Bese Saka, Denkyem (crocodile), Gye Nyame, Nyame Dua, Nsoromma (star), Osram ne Nsoromma (moon and star).
Sources
- Ashanti Proverbs (R. S. Rattray 1916), R. Sutherland Rattray, Ashanti Proverbs (The Primitive Ethics of a Savage People) (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1916), Internet Archive (University of Toronto scan), No. 136 and note
- Adinkra Symbols as Multivocal Pedagogical/Socialization Tool (Philip Owusu 2019), Philip Owusu (Senior Assistant Curator, Institute of African Studies Teaching Museum, University of Ghana), “Adinkra Symbols as ‘Multivocal’ Pedagogical/Socialization Tool”, Contemporary Journal of African Studies 6, no. 1 (2019): 46–58, doi:10.4314/contjas.v6i1.3, Contemporary Journal of African Studies (University of Ghana), pp. 49–50
- The philosophy behind some Adinkra symbols (Kuwornu-Adjaottor et al. 2016), J. E. T. Kuwornu-Adjaottor, George Appiah and Melvin Nartey (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology), “The philosophy behind some Adinkra symbols and their communicative values in Akan”, Philosophical Papers and Review 7, no. 3 (2016): 22–33, doi:10.5897/PPR2015.0117, Academic Journals, Some unfamiliar Adinkra symbols: Funtunfunafu
- 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
- 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 crosses, curves and waves or diamonds.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 9, 2026. How we research
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