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

One of the bottlenosed fraternity it was went by the name of James Wought alias Saphiro alias Spark and Spiro, put an ad in the papers saying he'd give a passage to Canada for twenty bob.

1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 12: Cyclops]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC, part II [Odyssey], page 308:

“’Ere y’are, the best rig-out you ever ’ad. A tosheroon [half a crown]^([sic]) for the coat, two ’ogs for the trousers, one and a tanner for the boots, and a ’og for the cap and scarf. That’s seven bob.”

1933 January 9, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter XXIX, in Down and Out in Paris and London, London: Victor Gollancz […], →OCLC, pages 214–215:

[…] there was a sound of barking and a great hefty dog of the Hound of the Baskervilles type came galloping at me, obviously intent on mayhem,[…]. And I was just commending my soul to God and thinking that this was where my new flannel trousers got about thirty bobs' worth of value bitten out of them, […]

1960, P[elham] G[renville] Wodehouse, chapter XVII, in Jeeves in the Offing, London: Herbert Jenkins, →OCLC:

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


merry-go-round

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-merry-go-round.wav

(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, →ISBN, 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, →ISBN, 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, archived from the original on 2023-04-16:

(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)

Anglo-Scottish border
Scottish Highlands
blackmail
border reivers

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 (“black mail”); 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 Scottish Highlands 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 (“fine imposed for fornication”) (1530s, Scottish).

der

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


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

bang (alternative)
bangue (alternative)
benj (alternative)

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 (“organisation, 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.


DSQ

en-noun

DSQ (countable and uncountable, plural DSQs)

domestic servant quarter
w:Servants' quarters

(Kenya) Abbreviation of domestic servant quarter


eunoto

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


matatu

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 shared taxi, especially one operating without a licence.

matatu

minivan often used as a share taxi — see also minivan, shared taxi


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.


TOT

en-noun

TOT (countable and uncountable, plural TOTs)

(taxation, Kenya) Initialism of turnover tax.


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, →ISBN, 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, →ISBN:

(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.


Jamhuri Day

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


Mashujaa Day

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


Kenyatta Day

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


changaa

(Kenya) illicitly manufactured alcohol; moonshine


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?:

(Kenya, slang, Sheng) Synonym of matatu.


mukimo

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


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:


KDF

Kenya Defence Forces
w:Kenya Defence Forces

(Kenya, military) Initialism of Kenya Defence Forces.


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 10, “We forgot kids outside healthy eating gravy train”, in Daily Nation:


AHL

Affordable Housing Levy
Affordable Housing Levy#English

(Kenya) Initialism of Affordable Housing Levy.


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.


NSSF

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

(Kenya) Initialism of National Social Security Fund.


KCSE

w:Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education

(Kenya) Initialism of Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education.


jua kali

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


Nairoberry

Criminal incidents in Nairobi are on the rise. The infamous dangerous, ugly and dark days of "Nairoberry" are back.

2022 May 11, Dauti Kahura, “Kenya: The Bad, Dangerous and Ugly Days of 'Nairoberry' Are Back”, in AllAfrica:

(Kenya, slang, derogatory) Derogatory name for Nairobi: the capital and largest city of Kenya.


KFCB

Kenya Film Classification Board
w:Kenya Film Classification Board

(Kenya) Initialism of Kenya Film Classification Board.


KAF

(Kenya, military, aviation) Initialism of Kenya Air Force


NHIF

w:National Health Insurance Fund (Kenya)

(Kenya) Initialism of National Health Insurance Fund.


give chance to

en-verb

give chance to (third-person singular simple present gives chance to, present participle giving chance to, simple past gave chance to, past participle given chance to)

gives chance to (present singular third-person)
giving chance to (participle present)
gave chance to (past)
given chance to (participle past)

(transitive, Philippines, Kenya, chiefly imperative) To give (someone or something) a chance.


KNEC

Kenya National Examinations Council
w:Kenya National Examinations Council

(Kenya) Initialism of Kenya National Examinations Council.


panya route

(Kenya) A secret trail or road used for illegal activities such as smuggling.


CBK

Central Bank of Kenya
w:Central Bank of Kenya

(Kenya) Initialism of Central Bank of Kenya.


KANU

Kenya African National Union
w:Kenya African National Union

(Kenya) Acronym of Kenya African National Union.