DC

en-noun

DC (countable and uncountable, plural DCs)

The DC reasoned that since it was only the ancestrals who had a problem with the incident, they should supply the bulls necessary to purify the forest.

2011, Emily Boyd, Carl Folke, Adapting Institutions (page 62)

(Kenya) Initialism of district commissioner.


location

→ German: Location

/ləʊˈkeɪʃən/

Borrowed from Latin locatio, locationis (“a placing”), from locare (“to place, put, set, let”), from locus (“a place”). Equivalent to locate + -ion.

(Kenya) An administrative region in Kenya, below counties and subcounties, and further divided into sublocations.


bob

(Kenya, slang; UK and Australia, historical, dated) A shilling.


merry-go-round

Possibly from go round (= rotate) merrily.

(Kenya) A cooperative scheme in which members regularly contribute money to a pool, and the collected money is then paid out to one of the members, repeating so that every member has eventually received the collected money.


shrub

From Middle English schrub, schrob, (also unassibilated as scrub), from Old English *sċrob (in placenames) and sċrybb (“a shrub; shrubbery; underbrush”); akin to Norwegian skrubbe (“the dwarf cornel tree”).

cog

It is not only in face-to-face contexts that Kenyans police shrubbing; there are newspaper columns inviting readers to send in shrubs that they have witnessed, […]

2010, Norma Mendoza-Denton, Dana Osborne, “Two Languages, Two Identities?”, in Carmen Llamas, Dominic Watt, editors, Language and Identities, page 121

One of the first people to go on air on X Fm, Raabia (It’s not a kuyu [Kikuyu] shrub for labia) is about to exit the station, she’s being replaced by Mao (their lispy producer) […]

2011 September 23, Yeye, “Fuck it!”, in Media Madness, archived from the original on 2011-09-24

place of articulation
place of articulation

(Kenya) A word mispronounced by replacing some consonant sounds with others of a similar place of articulation due to interference from one's knowledge of an indigenous Kenyan language.


shrub

en-verb

shrub (third-person singular simple present shrubs, present participle shrubbing, simple past and past participle shrubbed)

shrubs (present singular third-person)
shrubbing (participle present)
shrubbed (participle past)
shrubbed (past)

The people who benefit from making fun of shrubbing, therefore, are Kenyans who do not speak indigenous languages, because they are less likely to shrub than Kenyans who learned English as a second language in school and may have a heavier accent.

2010, Norma Mendoza-Denton, Dana Osborne, quoting Heidi Orcutt-Gachiri, “Two Languages, Two Identities?”, in Carmen Llamas, Dominic Watt, editors, Shrubbing and the evaluation of expertise in Kenyan English and Kiswahili: placing Kenyan indigenous languages at risk, 2008, page 7, quoted in Language and Identities, page 121

However, Mwandani and her brother had noted that their mother had shrubbed and pointed it out right away.

2014, Michael Gathonjia Wairungu, “The notion of shrubbing vs. Mother tongue interference: a question of generation”, in "A Language of Many Hats": The Rise of Sheng and other Linguistic Styles among Urban Youth in Kenya, page 310

It is still considered embarrassing if people in authority like teachers or newscasters “shrub.”

2019 April 19, Alice Wairimu Nderitu, “Harro! I shrub because, really, I have no otherwise, do I?”, in The East African, retrieved 2021-11-05

(transitive, Kenya) To mispronounce a word by replacing some consonant sounds with others of a similar place of articulation due to interference from one's knowledge of an indigenous Kenyan language.


blackmail

blackmail (third-person singular simple present blackmails, present participle blackmailing, simple past and past participle blackmailed)

blackmails (present singular third-person)
blackmailing (participle present)
blackmailed (participle past)
blackmailed (past)

From black + mail (“a piece of money”). Compare Middle English blak rente (“a type of blackmail levied by Irish chieftains”).
The word is variously derived from the tribute paid by English and Scottish border dwellers to Border Reivers in return for immunity from raids and other harassment. This tribute was paid in goods or labour, in Latin reditus nigri "blackmail"; the opposite is blanche firmes or reditus albi "white rent", denoting payment by silver.
McKay derives it from two Scottish Gaelic words blàthaich, pronounced (the th silent) bl-aich, "to protect" and màl (“tribute, payment”). He notes that the practice was common in the Highlands of Scotland as well as the Borders.
More likely, from black + Middle English mal, male, maile (“a payment, rent, tribute”), from Old English māl (“speech, contract, agreement, lawsuit, terms, bargaining”), from Old Norse mál (“agreement, speech, lawsuit”); related to Old English mæðel (“meeting, council”), mæl (“speech”), Gothic 𐌼𐌰𐌸𐌻 (maþl, “meeting place”), from Proto-Germanic *maþlą (“gathering, agreement”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *med- (“to give advice, measure”). From the practice of freebooting clan chieftains who ran protection rackets against Scottish farmers. Black from the evil of the practice.
Expanded c.1826 to any type of extortion money. Compare silver mail "rent paid in money" (1590s); buttock-mail (Scottish, 1530s) "fine imposed for fornication."

der

(Kenya) To speak ill of someone; to defame someone.


lorry

→ Hausa: lori

→ Iban: lori

→ Juba Arabic: lori

→ Malay: lori (“heavy truck”)

→ Chinese: 羅里 (luólǐ), 羅厘／罗厘 (luólí)

→ Farefare: loore

→ German: Lore

→ Irish: leoraí

→ Malay: lori

→ Moore: lore

→ Scottish Gaelic: làraidh

→ Swahili: lori

→ Telugu: లారీ (lārī)

→ Welsh: lorri, lori

→ Zulu: iloli

Uncertain; perhaps from dialectal English lurry (“to lug or pull about, drag”), or from the forename Laurie. First attested in early to middle 19th century.

cog

The most frequent age for starting in the actual occupation of lorry driving is 17 years. Trampers tend to start later, the mode amongst them being 19 years. The mean average age for beginning in lorry driving in the sample is between 21 and 23 years. The mean average number of years spent in lorry driving varies according to the type of driver.

1968, Peter G. Hollowell, “The Lorry Driver’s Career”, in The Lorry Driver (The International Library of Sociology; 154), London: Routledge and Kegan Paul; New York, N.Y.: Humanities Press, →OCLC; republished Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge, 1998 (2007 printing), page 61

Our journey through the streets of Singapore awoke strange emotions. Very little of the structural damage seemed to have been repaired beyond make-shift patchwork. The streets had a dingy and forlorn look. We arrived outside the British American Tobacco building and had our first experience of the shouting and hustlings that accompanied all Japanese supervision of our movements. We were shouted at to get out of the lorry with our baggage and make out way into the building.

1987, Richard Pool, “Prisoner of War”, in Course for Disaster: From Scapa Flow to the River Kwai, London: Leo Cooper, Heinemann, page 164

The plantain lorry caught up with them in a blind curve. Jeff caught a glimpse of the driver's face in the mirror as he fought to swing the old truck out around the car. At that moment Jeff heard the sound of the horn of a vehicle coming up the road. Out of the corner of his eye he could see the old lorry beside him; its driver desperately trying to avoid the passenger lorry coming up the scarp.

2003, John C. Kennedy, “The Child”, in Last Lorry to Mbordo: Misadventures in Nation Building: A Novel, Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing, page 176

At the platform in Pathankot, they must have overheard me asking the porter handling my luggage that I wanted to go to the lorry stand for Kashmir. [...] There were no buses then, some primitive contraptions called lorries. A far cry from the spacious and comfortable buses of the present day. They were not only rudimentary and crude, they also travelled very slow.

2005, Nagindra Mohan Kachroo, “Nostalgic Home Fires”, in Moments of Melancholy: (A Basket of Short Stories), New Delhi: S. B. Nangia, A. P. H. Publishing Corporation, page 129

I know I swing me Volvo all around you market square. I know you think that lorry drivers, we just don't care. But the streets are so narrow, built so many years ago. They were built for horses' carts, not juggernauts you know.

2019, “I love my juggernaut”, in The Pothole Song Album, performed by Richie Kavanagh

There was also the influx of a third of a million road lorries, sold at giveaway prices after their war roles ceased and used by competing one-man businesses to skim off sundry agricultural freight.

2023 March 8, Howard Johnston, “Was Marples the real railway wrecker?”, in RAIL, number 978, page 51

(British, India, Ireland, Kenya) A large and heavy motor vehicle designed to carry goods or soldiers; a truck


biting

Here the guests were lavishly entertained with drinks and bitings even before sitting down to dinner.

More of a cafeteria than a purebreed coffeehouse, the neat little 21 does both full meals and snacks or 'bitings'.


debe

(Kenya) A tin container used for kerosene etc.


jumbo

en-noun

jumbo (countable and uncountable, plural jumbos)

From Jumbo (1860–1885), the name given to a large African elephant from East Africa that was purchased in 1882 by American showman P. T. Barnum (1810–1891) for the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus. Compare Swahili jambo (“matter, thing”) and jumbe (“chief, headman”).


bhang

Transliteration of Hindustani بھانگ / भाँग (bhāṅg).

Almost from the outset of her arrival in the town, soft-muted music, the strange, heart-rending, mournful music of the East - suggestive of apes, and pearls, and bhang, and the colour blue - was to be heard, surging from the Nook in monotonous improvisation.

1919, Ronald Firbank, Valmouth, Duckworth, hardback edition, page 36

He rolled out from under Zelikman, who looked surprised as if by the turn his bhang dream had taken.

2007, Michael Chabon, Gentlemen of the Road, Sceptre 2008, page 101

Government-approved bhang shops thrive next to sweet shops flaunting rows of local desserts inside brightly lit, glass-panelled counters.

2023, Radhika Iyengar, Fire on the Ganges, Fourth Estate, page 13

(India, Kenya, Uganda, elsewhere slang) Cannabis and preparations thereof.


duka

From Swahili duka, from Arabic دُكَّان (dukkān), from Aramaic דּוּכָּנָא (dukkānā, “dais”), from Akkadian 𒆠𒍇 (/takkannu, dakkannu, dukkannu/, “dais, platform, bench; niche, bedroom, private chambers or quarters”), ultimately from Sumerian 𒆠𒍇 (/daggan/, “chamber, doorway or its frame, niche in a wall”).

der

This series […] was the only interesting reading material you could find on the half-empty shelves of Nairobi dukas that called themselves bookshops but mostly sold school texts and dust-coated magazines.

2012, Aidan Hartley, “Life at One Remove”, in Literary Review, section 404


chama

From Swahili chama (“organization, society”).

en:informal cooperative society in East Africa

(East Africa, chiefly Kenya) Any of several types of informal cooperative society.

(often) Such a group for pooling and investing savings.


eunoto

(Kenya) A Masai ceremony in which a warrior passes into senior warriorhood.


matatu

Borrowed from Swahili matatu, a clipping of mapeni matatu (“thirty cents”, literally “three ten-cent coins”) (the flat fare paid for such transportation in the 1960s). The word matatu is from ma- (prefix forming plurals) + -tatu (“three”) (from Proto-Bantu *-tátʊ̀ (“three”)).

clipping

A matatu is also more profitable when driven by its owner than by an employed driver, or if the employee-driver pays in all the earnings and the owner meets the operating costs, rather than when the owner demands a fixed sum of money daily, with the operator keeping the surplus.

1982, United Nations Centre for Human Settlements Habitat News

For now, matatus made lanes along both sides of tarmac main roads and went over, around or through potholes depending on their speed.

2010, Philo Ikonya, Leading the Night, page 102

Memories of their sense of trepidation, or even the anger, aboard a matatu could still be visceral.

2017, Kenda Mutongi, Matatu: A History of Popular Transportation in Nairobi, page 98

The roads were jammed with matatu minibuses sporting cartoonish liveries, and trucks billowing black smoke into the dazzling African light.

2024 January 13, David Pilling, “Revenge of the moderators”, in FT Weekend, Life & Arts, page 15

(Kenya, Uganda) A minivan used as a share taxi, especially one operating without a licence.


dawa

Borrowed from Swahili dawa (“medicine”).

(Kenya) A cocktail made with vodka, honey, and lime juice.


jembe

How many jembes do the people of your village buy per year?

1993, Samuel M. Wamae, How to Win in the Coming Jua Kali Boom, page 142


majimboism

From Swahili majimbo (“regions”) + -ism.

Mr. Odinga campaigned on a policy of federal decentralization known as majimboism.

2008 January 11, Aidan Hartley, “Democracy by Other Means”, in New York Times

(Kenya) The political devolution of power to the regions of a country.


shauri

Whether these people will be taken on or not is not my shauri.

Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard) (volume 5, page 431)


majimbo

Borrowed from Swahili majimbo (literally “regions”).

bor+

(Kenya) The political devolution of power to the individual regions of Kenya.


manamba

(Kenya) A tout who attempts to attract customers to a matatu.


irio

There are almost as many ways to prepare irio as there are Kenyan cooks. Irio almost always starts with potatoes, corn, and beans, but then Kenyan cooks add any number of other ingredients to the dish. Spinach, fried onions, vegetables, […]

2010, Barbara Sheen, Foods of Kenya, page 21

(Kenya) A Kenyan dish of mashed potatoes, maize, and other vegetables.


sublocation

(Kenya) An administrative region making up part of a location.

kata ndogo

administrative region in Kenya making up part of a location


mlolongo

Borrowed from Swahili mlolongo (“queuing, lining up”).

A system of voting held in Kenya during the Moi era where voters would line up behind their favored candidates contrary to a secret ballot.


mabati

He preferred the mabati roofs to the thatch because the mabati is good for rainwater harvesting and it is longer-lasting.

2010, Marilyn Waite, Sustainable Water Resources in the Built Environment, page 106

(Kenya) Metal sheeting, often corrugated iron.


makanga

In the Nairobi City Council today, we have many councillors who were makangas. I hope that in future the Opposition will see it fit to elect people of high calibre as councillors rather than bring in the kind of makanga councillors we have today, who have contributed to the decay in the City of Nairobi.

1994 July 5, Prof. Saitoti, “Report, Parliamentary Debates”, in Kenya National Assembly Official Record, volume 5, number 13, page 376

Sometimes there are several matatus en route to the same destination, so makangas will “fight”over you. One may even grab your luggage and force you to follow him to his matatu.

2009, Joseph R. Oppong, Esther D. Oppong, Kenya, page 79

One owner who operated on a route known for its 'dot.com' youth stated 'Those who call passengers cannot get anybody if they are dirty and badly dressed, makangas (touts) must be clean and well dressed; wear bling blings and sagging jeans.'

2015, Roger Behrens, Dorothy McCormick, David Mfinanga, Paratransit in African Cities: Operations, Regulation and Reform

(Kenya) A tout; one who is hired to convince passengers to take a specific taxi or matatu.


ndengu

Vigna radiata
Vigna radiata#Translingual

(Kenya) green gram (bean of Vigna radiata)


muguka

(Kenya) The leaves of Catha edulis, chewed as a stimulant; khat.


Madaraka Day

From Swahili madaraka (“responsibility, power”).

bor

(Kenya) A national holiday celebrated on June 1, commemorating when Kenya gained self-rule.


Kenyatta Day

(Kenya) Former name of Mashujaa Day, official until changed in 2010.


Mashujaa Day

(Kenya) A Kenyan national holiday celebrated on October 20.


Jamhuri Day

(Kenya) A national holiday celebrated on December 12, commemorating when Kenya became independent.


changaa

(Kenya) illicitly manufactured alcohol; moonshine


give way sign

(British, Australia, New Zealand, Philippines, Nigeria, Nepal, Jamaica, Barbados, Israel, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Pakistan, India, Bahamas, Bangladesh, Bermuda, Fiji, Ghana, Guernsey, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Kenya, Malta, Papua New Guinea, Rwanda, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda, Vanuatu, Zimbabwe) a road sign which instructs road users to give right of way to other traffic

Bermuda; Ghana; Isle of Man; Solomon Islands; Tanzania; Bermuda; Ghana; Isle of Man; Solomon Islands; Tanzania


mukimo

(Kenya) A dish similar to mashed potatoes, but also containing maize and beans.


mathree

A partial translation of Swahili -tatu (“three”) in matatu.

This has been going on for a while - ever since I came of drinking age and quickly learnt that a version of the truth on most national or local matters or at least an inkling can be found in the stranger sitting next to me in the pub; that woman in the mathree; that cab-driver late at night.

2007, Billy Kahora, Binyavanga Wainaina, Kwani?


mama mboga

From Swahili mama mboga (literally “mother vegetable”).


slay queen

From the encouraging imperative utterance "slay, queen!"; see the slang terms slay (“to amaze or stun by excellence”) and queen (“a female ruler”).

Isukile […] means 'it has moved' or 'it is off'. […] In this context, isukile is akin to the Afrikaans 'hier kom kak' (a shitstorm is brewing). […] When a slay queen sees a Nigerian buy a bottle of champagne. Isukile.

2018, Melusi Tshabalala, Melusi's Everyday Zulu: There is um'Zulu in all of us

(Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Zambia, South Africa, derogatory) A young female gold digger who is active on social media and pretends to afford a lavish partying lifestyle.


kill-me-quick

(Ghana, Kenya) illicitly manufactured alcohol; moonshine


members' day

(Kenya, colloquial) Friday, seen as the start of the weekend and a time to party.


nyama choma

Below are other words which were borrowed from Kiswahili[…]nyama choma [this is actually an incomplete version of nyama ya kuchoma (meat for roasting)]: roast meat]

[2007, Alfred Buregeya, “Aspects of the vocabulary of Kenyan English: an overview”, in Occasional Papers in Language and Linguistics, volume 3, pages 1–31

The meat sector is particularly developed in Arusha district and municipal council with increasing demand of meat by local people and a growing number of nyama choma businesses.

2015 May 24, Antonio Allegretti et al., “Economic valuation of pastoral meat production system in Arusha region, Tanzania”, in African Journal of Economic Review, volume 4, number 2


magendo

Mr. Deputy Speaker, does the Minister intend to tell this House that magendo is a business that is impossible to eradicate because it started at the time of Adam and Eve?

Kenya National Assembly Official Record (Hansard) (volume 53, page 205)


murenda

TEACH THEM YOUNG Domestic managers now cook two meals each night, one for the parents and one for the children who don’t eat murenda and beans.

2017 August 28, “We forgot kids outside healthy eating gravy train”, in Daily Nation


KRA

Kenya Revenue Authority
w:Kenya Revenue Authority

(Kenya) Initialism of Kenya Revenue Authority.


disco matanga

From disco + Swahili matanga (“funeral”).

As a result of the low socio-economic conditions in Busia, ‘disco matanga’ aims at driving people to raise money for a deceased´s funeral.

2021 September 6, “Tackling harmful cultural practices: Disco Matanga”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Terre des Hommes

Kilifi county women leaders have warned of an expected rise in teenage pregnancies among school-going girls in February 2023, following the lifting of the disco matanga ban by Public Service and Gender CS Aisha Jumwa.

2022 December 24, Daniel Mwamburi, “Teens at risk of pregnancy after return of disco matanga, Kilifi women leaders warn”, in NTV

(Kenya) A funeral party, typically organized to raise funds for the burial


KNCHR

w:Kenya National Commission on Human Rights

(Kenya) Initialism of Kenya National Commission on Human Rights.


SHIF

Social Health Insurance Fund
Social Health Insurance Fund#English

(Kenya) Initialism of Social Health Insurance Fund.


KCSE

w:Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education

(Kenya) Initialism of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education.


NSSF

National Social Security Fund
w:National Social Security Fund (Kenya)

(Kenya) Initialism of National Social Security Fund.


jua kali

(Kenya) The informal economy; self-employment other than agriculture.


KFCB

Kenya Film Classification Board
w:Kenya Film Classification Board

(Kenya) Initialism of Kenya Film Classification Board.