G Letter Words for Nigerian English
to Nigerian Translation

Nigerian

Word

Continuous Meaning

ENGLISH

NIGERIAN

 G.

 1 green; 1 grenade

  N20

 g4

  garri

 gaj

  Dress up nicely

 galavant

  working around with no cause

 gallon

  plastic container for liquid; She took a gallon containing kerosene, doused some on the girl's hands and laps and set her ablaze; Originally the 4-litre containers for oil, but now generalised to any plastic or other container in the shape of a jerry-can; {rubber}

 gallop

  hole or bump in the road; This road has too many gallops; pot holes in the road

 gan

  a word of yoruba origin meaning 'Big time'

 ganja

  weed; a strong-smelling plant from whose dried leaves a number of euphoriant and hallucinogenic drugs are prepared {e.g. I can smell ganja, can you smell it? Somebody is smoking Ganja}

 gar{r}i

  dried, grated cassava; Cassava is processed in this way to eliminate the cyanide in bitter types. The name and technology were brought by the Portuguese from the New World

 gara gara

  showing off, drawing attention to yourself

 garage

  bus-station; motorpark

 garden egg

  eggplant, brinjal; Solanum incanum. Applies to local, bitter varieties, including inedible types.

 garri

  dried cassava flour; a staple food in Nigeria

 gas

  diesel fuel

 gas

  to fart he has gassed also defile the air, mess up

 gate man

  someone that is payed to stand at the gate of a house to let people in and out. A guard {e.g. Emma's gate man likes to waste time in opening the gate}

 gats

  got to; have to

 gazzo

  to eat

 gbadun

  to really like or enjoy.

 gbaga

  to escape or run away from something or someone.

 gbagae

  refers to fight; crisis frequently used in warri

 gbagaun

  to make and error while speaking.

 gbagbe isele

  Forget about that

 gbagbeski

  means yes or forget

 gbam!

  yes

 gbaski

  cute; Fine; Well aranged

 gbati gbati

  sometimes used to refer to a yoruba person

 gbedu

  dance

 gbedu

  party

 gbege

  an expression used when in trouble; Origins are possibly from the Niger-Delta area.

 gbeghe

  trouble

 gbeskele

  dull person

 gbola

  a man's penis.

 gbolaa

  big dick {big penis}

 gbolalaa

  a deafening slap

 gbolo

  destroyed; gone bad; spoilt; horrible

 gbomo gbomo

  kidnappers; bad boys use to disrupt school session

 gbomo gbomo express

  is a gritty, dark comedy film {starring Ramsey Nouah} about money, love and deception centered on the kidnap, ransom of a record label Chief Executive Officer CEO, during a night of celebration with a beautiful socialite.

 gbomogbomo

  kidnapper; In the not-too-distant past, kidnapping was for ritual purposes, more recently, the motivation is to demand a ransom {e.g. Kunle na gbomogbomo}

 gbosa

  hail; loud explosion

 Gedu-nohor

  trade-name for Entandrophragma angolense

 geezm

  GSM; cellphone; mobile phone

 geh

  a young female human being; a female person; It's the pidgin word for Girl/ Female/ Lass

 GEJ

  Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the President of the federal republic of Nigeria.

 gele

  head-tie ; a female head wrap {Yoruba}; a rectangular cloth tied on a woman head for fashion; The material is usually stiff yet flexible enough to be made into unique styles - very colorful {e.g. Did you see Abisola's Gele? That thing was out of this world}

 gen

  shortened version of the word Generator

 general weakness

  tiredness, bodyache; I am suffering from general weakness.

 gen-gen

  exciting, on the edge

 George {cloth}

  tie-dyed adire cloth with pattern representing George V, now somewhat unrecognisably

 german stone

  a dry rock like food made out of grounded pea nut butter; Its popularly knows as kwili kwili

 gerrium

  Gerrium or G-sulphate popularly known as garry is a popular staple in Nigeria.

 get

  to have he get plenty money he has a lot of money Pidgin

 get accident

  to have an accident the moto got accident

 get am

  to own something; to be the person of the moment, probably after doing something praise-worthy

 get belle

  pregnant; big stomach

 get mouth

  to be sassy or boisterous

 get nyafu nyafu

  in abundance

 get sense

  intelligence {have good brain}

 gettaway

  get out.

 Ghana must go

  luggage bag {also used to connote bribe}; container/content

 ghana must go

  large plastic bags used to transport items of interest from one place to another; fibre bag from Taiwan with zipper and tartan or other pattern

 gi mi

  give it to me

 giant rat

  wild rat, Cricetomys, widely sold in markets and by the roadside, not widely used. Often called rabbit

 ginger

  to be pumped; psyched; motivated or excited

 girl

  house-girl formed by analogy with 'boy'

 gism

  GSM phone; see geezm

 gist

  news, more especially gossip; I have plenty of gist for you today; to gossip; or have a serious conversation

 gist

  to tell someone the news or the gossip; I will come and gist you this afternoon. She gisted me fully More generally, gossip, talk informally: We were gisting till midnight Originally student slang, but now used more widely

 give

  to make available; they don't want to give us light; they are organised enough to keep the electricity on; to share a story; Veronica gave us an experience

 give am

  give it to him or her, retaliate

 give am belle

  to add volume or to increase the volume of an audio or visual equipment 2} to impregnate

 give out

  to give away; she is giving out oranges More general than Stanard english

 giwan ruwa

  Nile perch {Lates niloticus} {Hausa} 'elephant of the water'

 gizard eating

  mouth action; going down on your lady

 glass

  window; car-window; Roll down the glass!

 globe

  bulb

 globe

  light-bulb the globe has quenched

 go about

  to go about locally more than is considered proper that woman is always going about {the implication is that this is inappropriate behaviour}

 go hug transformer

  an insult implying total dis-concern for the recipient.

 go slow

  hold up

 go slow

  traffic

 go to hell

  long hooked stick for getting down fruits such as mangoes Middle Belt. Presumably from the resemblance to the hooked sticks used by devils to drag down sinners.

 go up and down

  to roam about see that pig going up and down

 goatery

  place where goats are kept

 gobe

  trouble

 God pikin

  christian

 godfather

  person in position of influence able to assist you; Luckily, I have a godfather on the university admissions council.

 going

  motor-cycle taxi I must get a going Middle Belt. A calque from Hausa achaba

 gongoro lorry

  Mercedes 911 truck with locally built-up sides, usually decorated {Hausa gongoro}

 good

  full, complete {follows qualifying numbers}; I spent six good years in Kano 'a good six years'

 gorilla

  chimpanzee Pan troglodytes. Few Nigerians have ever seen either animal so their characteristics are somewhat vague. Actual gorillas exist in small numbers along the Nigeria/Cameroon borderland.

 gorimapa

  completely shaved head.

 goro

  cola, used in the same way to mean, tip, bribe, entitlement

 go-slow

  expression for traffic jam {sometimes extend metaphorically to connote sloth, grinding red tape, insouciance or governmental inaction - a reason that make Nigerians to nicknamed President Baba Go-slow}

 go-slow

  traffic jam; in Lagos they were caught in the go-slow

 got

  has become the beer got finished the beer has run out.

 gra gra

  troublesomeness

 grab

  to have muscles; muscular

 gragra

  unstable

 gra-gra

  hustling; violent

 gragra

  pretence of bravery; bravado

 grammar

  long sounding English word or unachievable feat

 grammar

  something that is confusing in general. Usually means the person doesn't even want to hear any more of it {e.g. Please I beg no big grammar today, I've got headache!}

 Grammar

  Standard English

 grass

  marijuana/hemp

 grasscutter

  cane rat, Thryonomys swinderianus also 'cutting-grass'. More often printed than spoken

 grasseater

  fish; calque from Hausa haki

 gree

  agree

 gree

  agree

 gree-die

  being stubborn {Igbo Osi onwu}; an uncompromising person {e.g. FIFA president Sepp Blatter na gree-die, just like a goat mule Ox}

 greet

  to greet {which is a much elaborate and formulaic process in Nigeria} it is correct to greet greeting is appropriate behaviour. She greeted him implying a formal, social process.

 griddai

  when one decides to do something which he'd rather not do.

 grind

  to grind, to have ground; I sent my baby out to grind; I sent my daughter out to get it ground

 groove

  party; enjoyment

 groundnut

  peanut She is selling groundnut. Arachis hypogaea. N.B. The singular is often used where Standard English would use plural. Groundnut is a pan-African Anglophone usage and is probably a calque of French pois de terre, or German Erdnuss.

 grub

  eat provisions or food stuff; to eat students' slang

 guber

  gubernatorial {i.e. referring to the election of State governors} Borno in guber race {Newspaper headline}

 guck

  believe a lie; mess up or fuck up.

 guest hotel

  hotel with accommodation; hotel

 guest inn

  hotel with accommodation; hotel, lodge

 guidiance

  guidance We pray for your guidiance and protection, oh Lord

 guinea brocade

  type of cloth; brocade

 guinea-corn

  sorghum. Sorghum bicolor

 gunner

  gunsmith, gun-supplier noticeboard sign / 'gunner'

 guru

  genius

 guy

  fashionable boy or young man {American English}

 guy make we cripside

  friend lets go home

 guy name

  nickname

 guyish

  describes behaving like a guy; His behaviour is guyish

 guy-man

  a person that is cunning {usually a male}; Can also be written as guy-man {e.g. You think say you be correct guy-man?}

 used to transport goods;

 a period in the 1980s when Ghanaians were expelled from Nigeria and allegedly used these bags to transport their goods back home