Skip to content

kamayin

to handle or eat with hands

verb ka-ma-YIN OF VERB Common
Illustration of the root word "kamay" (hand)
Illustration from root: kamay

From root: kamay

Conjugations

Past (Completed)

kinamay

ki-NA-may

handled or ate with hands

Present (Incomplete)

kinakamay

ki-na-KA-may

handling or eating with hands

Future (Contemplated)

kakamayin

ka-ka-ma-YIN

will handle or eat with hands

Usage Note

Kamayin is used when eating food with bare hands, a traditional Filipino practice often associated with informal dining or 'boodle fights.' It can also refer to the manual handling of objects or materials without the use of tools.

Examples

Beginner

" Huwag mong kamayin ang ulam. "

Natural Translation

Don't eat the viand with your hands.

Literal Translation

Don't you handle-with-hands the viand.

Intermediate

" Ayaw niyang kamayin ang kanin. "

Natural Translation

He doesn't want to eat the rice with his hands.

Literal Translation

Dislike he handle with-hands the rice.

Advanced

" Mas masarap daw kamayin ang sinangag at daing kaysa kumain gamit ang kutsara. "

Natural Translation

They say fried rice and dried fish taste better eaten with the hands than with a spoon.

Literal Translation

More delicious they-say eat-with-hands the fried-rice and dried-fish than eat using the spoon.

Free · iOS & Android

Take Tagalog with you

The full course, a 12,500-word dictionary, and flashcards that make every word stick — free to start on iOS and Android.

Tagalog builds thousands of words from a few hundred roots.

How Tagalog words work

Word family

kamay has 6 related forms built from the same root.

See all

Explore Tagalog by topic

Free guides on grammar, vocabulary, and culture to take you past single-word lookups.