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.

Is a very strong person, a bosso in other words.
Example

That man is a gabhadiya.

DRex 07 May 2021
Bosso is a slang term for boss.

Boss is someone who spins a car asa e namela.

Boss is someone who eats Rice Crispy with Whiskey.
Example

That guy ke bosso.

DRex 07 May 2021
A Zulu term for an assassin or hitman (a person hired to kill another person or a group of people), very popular in the KwaZulu Natal province.
Example

They hired inkabi to kill him but he survived.

DRex 06 May 2021
A Tsonga term for "his friend / her friend" that is apparently used to identify unknown soccer players by commentators.

They would call all the names of the "famous" players and when they reach the unknown player, they would say mngani wa yena (his friend).
Example

And he passes the ball to Jabu Pule... Jabu Pule passes to mngani wa yena.

DRex 05 May 2021
An idiot; a stupid or silly person. The Sunday Times newspaper shames wrongdoers in public life with its Mampara of the Week award.
Example

Kaizer Chiefs fans are Mamparas.

DRex 05 May 2021
A plastic miner’s helmet cut, moulded and painted to make headgear worn by fans at football matches.
Example

I used to wear makarapa when I went to watch the game.

DRex 05 May 2021
South African potato-like tuber (Colocasia esculenta and Colocasia antiquorum), cultivated mostly in KwaZulu-Natal, greyish in colour and rather tasty. From the isiZulu amadumbe .
Example

When I go to KZN, I have to get myself amadumbe.

DRex 05 May 2021
Music of South Africa’s urban black youth, which first emerged in the 1990s. Kwaito is a mixture of South African disco, hip hop, R&B, ragga, and a heavy dose of house music beats.
Example

Hip Hop has taken over now, Kwaito is no longer the same.

DRex 05 May 2021
An enclosure for livestock, or a rural village of huts surrounded by a stockade.
Example

Make sure the kraal is clean before the elders come back.

DRex 05 May 2021
A quarter loaf of bread hollowed out and filled with combinations of atchar, polony (Bologna), Russian sausages, slap chips, cheese, eggs, chilli sauce and more. A street food / kasi variant of the more suburban bunny chow.
Example

I'm definitely getting myself a kota the next time I visit Gomora.

DRex 05 May 2021
Common South African greeting that translates roughly as “How are you?”, “How are things?” or just “Hello”. It is derived from “How is it?”
Example

Ola my bro, howzit there?

Danny 05 May 2021
Is an Afrikaans term for complitely fed up or very upset.
Example

I am gatvol with Kaizer Chiefs.

Danny 05 May 2021

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