Thungisani

Get a seamstress or a taylor to make you an outfit, because my relationship is getting serious and I may be getting married soon.

Thungisani it's looks like things are looking good.

Umgowo

A Xhosa term used to tell someone that you are going through the most.

Variations: mgowo, gowa, gowisha, gowishing.

I'm so broke, ngumgowo nje wodwa mntase.

Xelegu

Ixelegu is a Xhosa word for a dirty person or a person who just cant be tidy.

I can’t deal with ixelegu.

Dagga

Dagga is another term for marijuanna or weed.

No one:
Parents: You are failing because of the dagga you are smoking.

Ayoba

Ayoba is a South African slang, which means something “cool”, “okay”, or “all right”. It was popular before the social media age but its use has declined.

Girl 1: We should go to the mall tomorrow.
Girl 2: Ayoba

Gqe

Igqe is a derogatory Zulu word for vagina.

Why are you broke when you have igqe?

Somagwaza

Somagwaza, is a rather mysterious, if not mythical, forefather who invented circumcision as a means of passage into manhood for Xhosa people.

I'm sure you didn't know who Somagwaza was 😅

Chakla

To destroy, to leave in disorder or to mess up

The how y’all now chakla this room, when I bop my eyes, that how it muh be clean.

Zozo

A kasi term used to refer to food.

I am starving, ke batla zozo.
I am starving, I want food.

Isidovela

I’m Xhosa, isidovela is a meal where rice is cooked with potatoes in the same pot. You mix it until it kinda looks like pap. You also have to add Spice for rice or Rajah to make it yellow.

Today I am cooking isidovela.

Ikhaya lokugqibela

Ikhaya lokugqibela is a term in Xhosa that means the last resting place (where a person is buried).

I'm praying for everyone who tries to steal my lover to go kwikhaya lakhe lokugqibela