See Sheng on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_links": [
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],
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}
],
"etymology_text": "Blend of Swahili + English.",
"head_templates": [
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],
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{
"_dis": "94 6",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
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{
"_dis": "94 6",
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{
"_dis": "62 38",
"kind": "other",
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},
{
"_dis": "69 31",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
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}
],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
158,
163
],
[
379,
384
]
],
"ref": "2009, Michela Wrong, It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle Blower:",
"text": "English and Kiswahili might be Kenya’s official languages, but pupils tumbling out of school and students in the university canteens chatter to each other in Sheng, to their teachers’ despair. A witty, cheeky, freewheeling Clockwork Orange-style brew of Kiswahili, English and indigenous Kenyan languages, with added dollops of reggae jargon, American slang, French and Spanish, Sheng originated in Nairobi’s Eastlands slums in the 1980s.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A Kenyan cant based on Swahili and English."
],
"id": "en-Sheng-en-name-GFlzHubh",
"links": [
[
"Kenyan",
"Kenyan"
],
[
"cant",
"cant"
],
[
"Swahili",
"Swahili"
],
[
"English",
"English"
]
],
"related": [
{
"word": "Engsh"
}
]
}
],
"word": "Sheng"
}
{
"etymology_links": [
[
"盛",
"盛#Mandarin"
],
[
"Shing",
"Shing#English"
],
[
"Seng",
"Seng#English"
],
[
"Sing",
"Sing#English"
],
[
"生",
"生#Mandarin"
],
[
"Sang",
"Sang#English"
]
],
"etymology_number": "2",
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "zh",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "Chinese",
"name": "uder"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "cmn",
"3": "盛"
},
"expansion": "Mandarin 盛",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "Shing",
"3": "Seng",
"4": "Sing"
},
"expansion": "Doublet of Shing, Seng, and Sing",
"name": "doublet"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "cmn",
"3": "生"
},
"expansion": "Mandarin 生",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "Sang"
},
"expansion": "Doublet of Sang",
"name": "doublet"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From several Chinese surnames, including:\n* From Mandarin 盛. Doublet of Shing, Seng, and Sing.\n* From Mandarin 生. Doublet of Sang.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "Shengs",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "s"
},
"expansion": "Sheng (plural Shengs)",
"name": "en-proper noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "name",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "English surnames",
"parents": [],
"source": "w"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A surname from Chinese."
],
"id": "en-Sheng-en-name-4TuPt0~5",
"links": [
[
"surname",
"surname"
]
]
}
],
"word": "Sheng"
}
{
"etymology_links": [
[
"blend",
"blend"
],
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"Swahili",
"Swahili#English"
],
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"English",
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]
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "sw",
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"3": "-"
},
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"name": "der"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Formed in English as a blend of Swahili and English.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "Kisheng",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "KiSheng",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "kisheng",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "sheng",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
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"2": "proper noun"
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"expansion": "Sheng",
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],
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"pos": "name",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
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},
{
"kind": "other",
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"parents": [],
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},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Sheng",
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},
{
"kind": "other",
"name": "Swahili entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
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}
],
"glosses": [
"Sheng (Kenyan cant)"
],
"id": "en-Sheng-sw-name-sXg~aF~a",
"links": [
[
"Sheng",
"Sheng#English"
]
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "Sw-ke-Sheng.flac",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9d/Sw-ke-Sheng.flac/Sw-ke-Sheng.flac.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9d/Sw-ke-Sheng.flac/Sw-ke-Sheng.flac.ogg",
"tags": [
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],
"word": "Sheng"
}
{
"categories": [
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"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English proper nouns",
"English terms derived from Chinese",
"English uncountable nouns",
"English undefined derivations",
"Pages with 2 entries",
"Pages with entries"
],
"etymology_links": [
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"2": "Swahili",
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},
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}
],
"etymology_text": "Blend of Swahili + English.",
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {},
"expansion": "Sheng",
"name": "en-proper noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
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{
"word": "Engsh"
}
],
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
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],
"examples": [
{
"bold_text_offsets": [
[
158,
163
],
[
379,
384
]
],
"ref": "2009, Michela Wrong, It’s Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle Blower:",
"text": "English and Kiswahili might be Kenya’s official languages, but pupils tumbling out of school and students in the university canteens chatter to each other in Sheng, to their teachers’ despair. A witty, cheeky, freewheeling Clockwork Orange-style brew of Kiswahili, English and indigenous Kenyan languages, with added dollops of reggae jargon, American slang, French and Spanish, Sheng originated in Nairobi’s Eastlands slums in the 1980s.",
"type": "quotation"
}
],
"glosses": [
"A Kenyan cant based on Swahili and English."
],
"links": [
[
"Kenyan",
"Kenyan"
],
[
"cant",
"cant"
],
[
"Swahili",
"Swahili"
],
[
"English",
"English"
]
]
}
],
"word": "Sheng"
}
{
"categories": [
"English countable nouns",
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English proper nouns",
"English terms derived from Chinese",
"English undefined derivations",
"Pages with 2 entries",
"Pages with entries"
],
"etymology_links": [
[
"盛",
"盛#Mandarin"
],
[
"Shing",
"Shing#English"
],
[
"Seng",
"Seng#English"
],
[
"Sing",
"Sing#English"
],
[
"生",
"生#Mandarin"
],
[
"Sang",
"Sang#English"
]
],
"etymology_number": "2",
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "zh",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "Chinese",
"name": "uder"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "cmn",
"3": "盛"
},
"expansion": "Mandarin 盛",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "Shing",
"3": "Seng",
"4": "Sing"
},
"expansion": "Doublet of Shing, Seng, and Sing",
"name": "doublet"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "cmn",
"3": "生"
},
"expansion": "Mandarin 生",
"name": "der"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "en",
"2": "Sang"
},
"expansion": "Doublet of Sang",
"name": "doublet"
}
],
"etymology_text": "From several Chinese surnames, including:\n* From Mandarin 盛. Doublet of Shing, Seng, and Sing.\n* From Mandarin 生. Doublet of Sang.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "Shengs",
"tags": [
"plural"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "s"
},
"expansion": "Sheng (plural Shengs)",
"name": "en-proper noun"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "name",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"English surnames",
"English surnames from Chinese"
],
"glosses": [
"A surname from Chinese."
],
"links": [
[
"surname",
"surname"
]
]
}
],
"word": "Sheng"
}
{
"etymology_links": [
[
"blend",
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],
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],
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]
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "sw",
"2": "en",
"3": "-"
},
"expansion": "English",
"name": "der"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Formed in English as a blend of Swahili and English.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "Kisheng",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "KiSheng",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "kisheng",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
},
{
"form": "sheng",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "sw",
"2": "proper noun"
},
"expansion": "Sheng",
"name": "head"
}
],
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"lang_code": "sw",
"pos": "name",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
"Pages with 2 entries",
"Pages with entries",
"Sheng",
"Swahili entries with incorrect language header",
"Swahili lemmas",
"Swahili proper nouns",
"Swahili terms derived from English"
],
"glosses": [
"Sheng (Kenyan cant)"
],
"links": [
[
"Sheng",
"Sheng#English"
]
]
}
],
"sounds": [
{
"audio": "Sw-ke-Sheng.flac",
"mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9d/Sw-ke-Sheng.flac/Sw-ke-Sheng.flac.mp3",
"ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/9/9d/Sw-ke-Sheng.flac/Sw-ke-Sheng.flac.ogg",
"tags": [
"Kenya"
]
}
],
"word": "Sheng"
}
Download raw JSONL data for Sheng meaning in All languages combined (4.3kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-10-21 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-10-01 using wiktextract (c1bb342 and 6f96ddf). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.