South Africa Slang Dictionary

South African slang is a rich, multilingual mix that borrows freely from the country's eleven official languages - isiZulu, isiXhosa, Afrikaans, Sesotho and more - plus street languages like tsotsitaal and Sepitori. It's the language of the townships, the taxi rank, kwaito and amapiano, and everyday Mzansi life from Joburg to Cape Town to Durban. Words like eish, howzit, lekker, sharp sharp and yebo are woven into how South Africans speak every day. Explore the community-built dictionary of South African slang below - and add the words you know.

Ngqaya is a term mostly used in Cape Town that means to buy.
Example

Ekse, ndifuna ukungqaya lewey.

Ekse, I want to buy this thing.

Yanga CPT 17 May 2024
Skoli is a term mostly use in Cape Town that means a thief.
Example

You should be careful when walking here, there's a lot of skolis.

Yanga CPT 17 May 2024
Khayelitsha is a township in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa, on the Cape Flats. The name is Xhosa for New Home. It is reputed to be one of the largest and fastest-growing townships in South Africa.
Example

I was born and bred in Khayelitsha.

Yanga CPT 17 May 2024

Hun

Hun is a South African slang term for a girl or chick.
Example

Khayelitsha huns will finish your money and leave you.

Yanga CPT 17 May 2024
Baps is a South African slang term for sex.
Example

Okes will baps your hun without even thinking twice.

Yanga CPT 17 May 2024
Chanda is a South African slang term for vomiting.
Example

I don’t host house parties anymore because okes chanda everywhere.

CG 16 May 2024
Is a name given to a child or children born from South Africa Lady who date a Nigerian guy.
Example

How are your jollofites doing?

setwaba 16 May 2024
Show me your number is a popular soccer/football skill in South Africa, where the player pretends to shoot the ball and the defender ducks, hence showing his/her number to the attacker.
Example

They hit him with a “show me your number” and the crowd went crazy.

Cody 16 May 2024
Seeing
Example

Liyabona iso lika thixo

Mathapelo 15 May 2024
Mother of prayer
Example

Woman who pray for people

Mathapelo 15 May 2024
A name given to a brave South African woman dating or sleeping with a Nigerian man mostly for money and other materialistic things.
Example

She can afford her lifestyle because she's dating jollof boys.

Rebs 15 May 2024
Kuningi is a popular Zulu term that means it's a lot. It is frequently used by social media users to express feeling overwhelmed by too much information or multiple challenges at once.
Example

A lot is going on in Mzansi right now. Kuningi and it's getting kuningier.

OD 15 May 2024

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