adinkra
Gye Nyame
Meaning
An Akan expression meaning "Except God." It expresses the omnipotence and supremacy of God in all affairs.
Specifications
| Size | 3.5 in |
| Dimensions | 77.1 × 88.4 mm |
| Stitch count | 10,384 |
| Thread trims | 0 |
| Runtime | 16.5 min (est. at 700 stitches/min) |
| Stitch types | fill, satin, running |
| Minimum hoop | 100x100 |
| Formats included | VP3, DST, PES |
Cultural note
Gye Nyame is the most widely reproduced of all adinkra symbols and has become an emblem of adinkra as a whole. It appears on Ghana's 200-cedi banknote and in the coats of arms of Ghanaian universities. The symbol is chiral — it is not identical to its mirror image, so orientation matters. One reading, recorded by Eglash and colleagues, is that the knobs down the centre represent the knuckles of a clenched fist, a sign of power; that reading is reported rather than settled.
- ORIGIN
- Akan people — Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire
- LANGUAGE
- Twi
- SOURCES
- Nana Kwabena, Adinkra Symbols & Meanings — gye-nyame, 2020 · W. Bruce Willis, The Adinkra Dictionary: A Visual Primer on the Language of Adinkra, 1998
- VERIFIED
- 2026-08-05
Get this design
Embroidery files — all 5 designs
VP3, DST and PES, each the file stitched and approved on fabric. One price for the whole collection, Gye Nyame included.