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Translate English to Nigerian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nigerian Word |
Continuous Meaning |
ENGLISH NIGERIAN |
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G. |
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1 green; 1 grenade |
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N20 |
g4 |
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garri |
gaj |
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Dress up nicely |
galavant |
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working around with no cause |
gallon |
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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 |
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hole or bump in the road; This road has too many gallops; pot holes in the road |
gan |
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a word of yoruba origin meaning 'Big time' |
ganja |
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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 |
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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 |
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showing off, drawing attention to yourself |
garage |
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bus-station; motorpark |
garden egg |
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eggplant, brinjal; Solanum incanum. Applies to local, bitter varieties, including inedible types. |
garri |
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dried cassava flour; a staple food in Nigeria |
gas |
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diesel fuel |
gas |
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to fart he has gassed also defile the air, mess up |
gate man |
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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 |
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got to; have to |
gazzo |
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to eat |
gbadun |
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to really like or enjoy. |
gbaga |
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to escape or run away from something or someone. |
gbagae |
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refers to fight; crisis frequently used in warri |
gbagaun |
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to make and error while speaking. |
gbagbe isele |
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Forget about that |
gbagbeski |
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means yes or forget |
gbam! |
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yes |
gbaski |
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cute; Fine; Well aranged |
gbati gbati |
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sometimes used to refer to a yoruba person |
gbedu |
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dance |
gbedu |
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party |
gbege |
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an expression used when in trouble; Origins are possibly from the Niger-Delta area. |
gbeghe |
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trouble |
gbeskele |
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dull person |
gbola |
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a man's penis. |
gbolaa |
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big dick {big penis} |
gbolalaa |
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a deafening slap |
gbolo |
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destroyed; gone bad; spoilt; horrible |
gbomo gbomo |
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kidnappers; bad boys use to disrupt school session |
gbomo gbomo express |
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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 |
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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 |
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hail; loud explosion |
Gedu-nohor |
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trade-name for Entandrophragma angolense |
geezm |
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GSM; cellphone; mobile phone |
geh |
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a young female human being; a female person; It's the pidgin word for Girl/ Female/ Lass |
GEJ |
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Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, the President of the federal republic of Nigeria. |
gele |
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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 |
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shortened version of the word Generator |
general weakness |
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tiredness, bodyache; I am suffering from general weakness. |
gen-gen |
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exciting, on the edge |
George {cloth} |
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tie-dyed adire cloth with pattern representing George V, now somewhat unrecognisably |
german stone |
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a dry rock like food made out of grounded pea nut butter; Its popularly knows as kwili kwili |
gerrium |
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Gerrium or G-sulphate popularly known as garry is a popular staple in Nigeria. |
get |
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to have he get plenty money he has a lot of money Pidgin |
get accident |
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to have an accident the moto got accident |
get am |
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to own something; to be the person of the moment, probably after doing something praise-worthy |
get belle |
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pregnant; big stomach |
get mouth |
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to be sassy or boisterous |
get nyafu nyafu |
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in abundance |
get sense |
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intelligence {have good brain} |
gettaway |
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get out. |
Ghana must go |
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luggage bag {also used to connote bribe}; container/content |
ghana must go |
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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 |
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give it to me |
giant rat |
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wild rat, Cricetomys, widely sold in markets and by the roadside, not widely used. Often called rabbit |
ginger |
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to be pumped; psyched; motivated or excited |
girl |
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house-girl formed by analogy with 'boy' |
gism |
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GSM phone; see geezm |
gist |
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news, more especially gossip; I have plenty of gist for you today; to gossip; or have a serious conversation |
gist |
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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 |
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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 |
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give it to him or her, retaliate |
give am belle |
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to add volume or to increase the volume of an audio or visual equipment 2} to impregnate |
give out |
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to give away; she is giving out oranges More general than Stanard english |
giwan ruwa |
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Nile perch {Lates niloticus} {Hausa} 'elephant of the water' |
gizard eating |
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mouth action; going down on your lady |
glass |
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window; car-window; Roll down the glass! |
globe |
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bulb |
globe |
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light-bulb the globe has quenched |
go about |
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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 |
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an insult implying total dis-concern for the recipient. |
go slow |
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hold up |
go slow |
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traffic |
go to hell |
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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 |
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to roam about see that pig going up and down |
goatery |
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place where goats are kept |
gobe |
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trouble |
God pikin |
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christian |
godfather |
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person in position of influence able to assist you; Luckily, I have a godfather on the university admissions council. |
going |
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motor-cycle taxi I must get a going Middle Belt. A calque from Hausa achaba |
gongoro lorry |
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Mercedes 911 truck with locally built-up sides, usually decorated {Hausa gongoro} |
good |
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full, complete {follows qualifying numbers}; I spent six good years in Kano 'a good six years' |
gorilla |
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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 |
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completely shaved head. |
goro |
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cola, used in the same way to mean, tip, bribe, entitlement |
go-slow |
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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 |
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traffic jam; in Lagos they were caught in the go-slow |
got |
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has become the beer got finished the beer has run out. |
gra gra |
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troublesomeness |
grab |
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to have muscles; muscular |
gragra |
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unstable |
gra-gra |
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hustling; violent |
gragra |
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pretence of bravery; bravado |
grammar |
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long sounding English word or unachievable feat |
grammar |
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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 |
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Standard English |
grass |
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marijuana/hemp |
grasscutter |
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cane rat, Thryonomys swinderianus also 'cutting-grass'. More often printed than spoken |
grasseater |
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fish; calque from Hausa haki |
gree |
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agree |
gree |
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agree |
gree-die |
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being stubborn {Igbo Osi onwu}; an uncompromising person {e.g. FIFA president Sepp Blatter na gree-die, just like a goat mule Ox} |
greet |
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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 |
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when one decides to do something which he'd rather not do. |
grind |
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to grind, to have ground; I sent my baby out to grind; I sent my daughter out to get it ground |
groove |
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party; enjoyment |
groundnut |
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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 |
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eat provisions or food stuff; to eat students' slang |
guber |
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gubernatorial {i.e. referring to the election of State governors} Borno in guber race {Newspaper headline} |
guck |
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believe a lie; mess up or fuck up. |
guest hotel |
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hotel with accommodation; hotel |
guest inn |
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hotel with accommodation; hotel, lodge |
guidiance |
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guidance We pray for your guidiance and protection, oh Lord |
guinea brocade |
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type of cloth; brocade |
guinea-corn |
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sorghum. Sorghum bicolor |
gunner |
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gunsmith, gun-supplier noticeboard sign / 'gunner' |
guru |
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genius |
guy |
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fashionable boy or young man {American English} |
guy make we cripside |
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friend lets go home |
guy name |
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nickname |
guyish |
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describes behaving like a guy; His behaviour is guyish |
guy-man |
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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; |
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a period in the 1980s when Ghanaians were expelled from Nigeria and allegedly used these bags to transport their goods back home |
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