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Translate English to Nigerian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nigerian Word |
Continuous Meaning |
ENGLISH NIGERIAN |
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M. |
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M & B |
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all types of medicines; acronym for May & Baker, formerly a manufacturer of common pharmaceutical products |
ma |
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Term of respect used to address an older woman Ma, I don't know how to do this. |
ma le |
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mother {PRONOUNCED: mah-ler} |
ma pin |
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a sacarstic or rude way of not answering a question; continue asking |
mach |
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step on; trample upon |
machine |
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motor-bike; motor cycle {see okada} |
machine |
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motorcycle or new car |
machine boy |
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motor-bike taxi driver see Okada |
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maclean |
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any toothpaste; Brand name ; a brand name for a particular toothpaste; generally used to describe all kinds of toothpastes |
madam |
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generic respectful term for older woman; I have been hearing of this madam. |
maga |
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really messed up |
maga {419} |
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the mark in a con |
maga no need pay |
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the white-collar job and office work isn't for everyone. |
maggi |
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brand of spice or seasoning popular in Nigeria ; any commercially made stock-cube; Maggi brand name |
mago mago |
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deceitful |
mago mago |
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trickery; {when someone is not acting straight forward} |
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mahogany |
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tree sp. Khaya senegalensis |
mai guard; main guards |
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security guard; Northerner guard or uniform guard; information security covering industry news, opinion, reviews, analysis, research and advisory {Hausa} |
maintain |
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be calm |
maintain |
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to stay calm |
maja |
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to harass, intimidate, cow someone down or put fear in some one |
majority |
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used without article; They are majority. |
make |
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let |
make |
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let; used to signify that you are going to do something. |
make |
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to do {hair} she has gone to salon to make her hair |
make accident |
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to have an accident; The moto has made accident |
make eye |
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wink |
make eye |
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to wink at someone |
make I hear word |
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shut up; keep quiet |
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make mouth |
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boast |
make sense |
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used for something that has value |
make we |
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let us |
makossa |
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do not bring your problems over to my area and spoil my joy - sort of |
makossa music |
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rhythmic dance music popular in Nigeria of putative Congolese origin |
mallam |
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an hausa person or a muslim; technically, learned Islamic scholar; but often a title of respect for any putatively learned person, also humorous Mallam! What is the day? Generalized to any male dressing in Islamic style; also title = Mr. for a Muslim. |
malle |
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mummy |
malo |
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a derogatory term sometimes used to refer to a Hausa man. |
malu |
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cow |
mama put |
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local restaurant often found on the street corners {they are cheaper than proper restaurants} |
mamaput |
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roadside restaurant |
mamba |
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lead bars or ingots used to make shot for cannons Niger Delta area. |
mami water |
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{Pronounced - Mami Wata...} spirits of the Water; like a Mermaid {at most times they're females} |
Mami-Wata |
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Goddess - the subject of a widespread cult in the Niger Delta area. Represented as a mermaid, with snaky hair and believed to be responsible for pulling fishermen to their deaths, although also courted to enrich people |
mammar |
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to hit or beat something or someone |
mammy |
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woman, usually applied to mature women who run market-stalls |
mammy market |
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market attached to barracks where products for soldiers are sold, such as dogmeat |
mammy water |
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a mermaid; {she is considered evil because she lures men into the sea or river and makes them her love slaves {e.g. She looks like mammy water... so becareful ooo?} |
mammy-wagon |
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lorry converted to carry passengers on seats facing backwards arch. as replaced by other types |
man no die |
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amullette {protective medicine} |
man no man |
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corruption and nepotism |
manage |
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to be surviving; we are managing ; to make do, to put up with; He begged me to manage him in the one room; He asked me to put up with him staying in the same room; The car developed problem, but I managed it to Onitsha |
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manchester |
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to feel horny |
manchi |
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a guy |
manya |
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to get drunk or intoxicated on drugs or alchohol |
mar le; momsi |
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mummy |
mara |
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mara can be used to depict madness. |
market woman |
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woman who regularly sells in the market, trader |
marle |
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used to refer to a mother |
mary amaka |
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to dress very covered or modestly without show any kind of body shape or curves. |
masham |
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drop a passenger |
maskaform |
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to misbehave. |
match |
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to tread on, to trample on; Match on it trample on it Confusion with mash? to mash palm-oil |
matchet |
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machete, used for cutting vegetation; cutlass |
matchstick |
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match. |
mate |
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co-wife ; social class; people on the same level |
maternity |
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maternity clinic |
mbeke |
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white man; shouted at foreigners in the south-central regions of Nigeria. In Port Harcourt area it is bekee |
meat |
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as in Standard English, but also a small piece of meat served with soups, sold by the individual chunk add one meat! Put one more chunk of meat in the stew |
mede mede |
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salad; foreign cuisine |
medicine |
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conventional standard English sense but also extended to a wide variety of chemicals, particularly agricultural insect medicine pesticide; extended to mean charm or poison |
mediocre |
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mediocre person can be pluralised; Falling out of use. |
meek |
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timid {but applied to mind} The stock market is not for meek minds |
meet |
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to encounter, but used for objects and situations; I met your absence. |
megaurd |
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security officer; usually a watches and opens the gate of a house |
mek |
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make |
mellow |
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to calm down or take it easy |
mense |
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to menstruate; she has stopped mensing |
mentor |
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role model |
meow |
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to escape; disappear; to leave in a haste |
meruwa |
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mallams {hausa northern men} who sell water in jerrycans; they are a common sight in lagos, particularly in places that lack proper water supply; they arrange about 10 jerrycans of water in a wheelbarrow and push it around the streets {e.g. Please, I no get water in the house, abeg if you see meruwa call am for me } |
mescagizing |
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messing up and not behaving as expected |
mess |
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to fart or pollute the air |
mess {up} |
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to fart {pidgin} |
mess up with |
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to socialise with in a disapproved way; The Hausa boys were messing up with Christian girls |
mess, make a |
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to cast in an inferior light my wife's meals will always make a mess of any food I eat outside |
mgbeke |
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an unrefined girl especially from the eastern part of Nigeria |
mi ma |
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myself |
mia |
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to flee; to hurry away |
microchip |
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tiny piece of paper with useful information concealed on the body in an exam |
Middle Belt |
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region of Nigeria between ethnic block of the Yoruba and Igbo in the south and the Hausa in the north. Roughly from south of Kaduna to north of Ilorin |
mighty |
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large, powerful, overbearing; it is very mighty archaic in Standard English but current |
mind |
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usual in the expression... Don't mind.. + pron. meaning; Don't pay any attention to.. |
mind |
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want, like would you mind some biscuits? Would you like some biscuits? Has no negative implication mineral; soft drink |
mineral |
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soft drinks |
minerals |
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soft drinks packaged in 35cl glass bottles. |
mise |
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to be miserly; I have to mise my money; I must mind my money carefully back-formation from 'miser' |
misfire |
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say something stupid or irrelevant |
miss, to |
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to not have, to have lost; she missed her husband her husband is no longer around {dead, divorced etc.} |
missing, to get |
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lost, vanished Sah, the key got missing |
misyarn |
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miscommunicate |
misyarn |
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to talk rubbish; trash or wrong thing |
MKO |
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Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola {MKO} {June 12} |
mo gbe!!!! |
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I am in trouble {Yoruba} |
mo-ed |
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to get drunk |
mofty |
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casual wear; Usually used when students in uniform are allowed to wear clothes of their choice; The clothes are referred to as mofty {e.g. Tomorrow na dress down, I will wear my best mofty} |
moi-moi |
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bean Cake |
moinmoin |
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cake made of boiled Bambara groundnuts, commonly sold in markets |
molue |
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bus used for urban transport; The choicest curses of the molue drivers are reserved for those in private cars - in the lingo of the road battles, the 'slaves' and 'bastards' who are drivers to the car-owning class; Yoruba - see Bamgbose's etymology |
molue |
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see Danfo; a beat up bus, most known to be in Lagos; These buses are usually in very bad shape, but are still used for public transportation { e.g. No laugh! But I prefer taken moleue in Ikeja to Mile 2; } |
momo |
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morning |
momsi |
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mother |
money |
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as in Standard English but also 'cost' Your money is.. It costs... |
money bags |
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an individuals who assumed leadership of political parties because they have the enormous financial capacity |
money for hand |
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commercialised sex |
money-minded |
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obsessed with obtaining money {≠stingy} Girls are money-minded. {Onitsha Market pamphlet} |
monkey |
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As in Standard English; also derogatory, insulting of a person; Who is that monkey? |
monkey post |
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narrow football goal post |
monthend |
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at the end of the month, when salaries are paid; I go pay you monthend; I'll pay you at the end of the month |
mopo |
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mobile police |
Mopol |
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Mobile Police, an extremely aggressive force brought out in times of civil emergency nickname is 'Kill and Go' |
moreso |
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especially The Dean, Student Affairs, pleaded that senate should tread softly on the matter, moreso, as the affected students were not allowed to contest the election. {senate minutes} Acknowledging our past and its lessons are more beneficial than denying it, moreso, when we use the lessons learnt to shape our past and future; Moreso, when a nation or people loses her language, their culture and identity are lost. |
moro moro |
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a clean shaved head or hair cut. |
moto |
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car; motor; Cars in a bad shape are often referred moto. |
motor bike |
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motor cycle {see machine or okada} |
motor-park |
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garage for commercial vehicles, bus station garage in this sense |
move |
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steal; go |
move with |
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to accompany on a regular basis, usually implying friendship he moves with me we always go about together. |
moze |
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a girl |
mozz |
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it is used to tell someone to get out of one's sight {e.g. Abeg mozz, you're too dull} |
Mr. Hare |
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common protagonist of folk-tales in the north = {Mr} Tortoise in the south |
Mr. Man |
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Way of addressing unknown to you; Disappearing? |
mud |
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to slap dollops of mud on a house either in building or sealing cracks They are mudding that person's house |
mugu |
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a fool |
mugun |
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foolish person; a victim of scammer. |
mumsi |
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see momsi |
mumu |
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a foolish person |
mumu |
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fool {also see Ode} |
mumuni |
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a very stupid person |
mungu |
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fool |
muri/muritala |
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twenty naira note |
murtala |
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Twenty Naira banknote from the portrait of Gen. Murtala Mohammed who appears on the note {Igbo isi Mohammed = N20.00 = 20 Naira} |
musu |
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foolish person; a victim of scammer. |
mutallab |
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a rich kid who attempts to throw his life away for silly {extreme} reasons {e.g. the car fine sha but I no trust this your new money miss road bobo; him go mutallab una for road oh!} |
my period |
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used when one does not have money |
my slick |
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my girlfriend |
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