M Letter Words for Nigerian English
to Nigerian Translation

Nigerian

Word

Continuous Meaning

ENGLISH

NIGERIAN

 M.

 M & B

  all types of medicines; acronym for May & Baker, formerly a manufacturer of common pharmaceutical products

 ma

  Term of respect used to address an older woman Ma, I don't know how to do this.

 ma le

  mother {PRONOUNCED: mah-ler}

 ma pin

  a sacarstic or rude way of not answering a question; continue asking

 mach

  step on; trample upon

 machine

  motor-bike; motor cycle {see okada}

 machine

  motorcycle or new car

 machine boy

  motor-bike taxi driver see Okada

 maclean

  any toothpaste; Brand name ; a brand name for a particular toothpaste; generally used to describe all kinds of toothpastes

 madam

  generic respectful term for older woman; I have been hearing of this madam.

 maga

  really messed up

 maga {419}

  the mark in a con

 maga no need pay

  the white-collar job and office work isn't for everyone.

 maggi

  brand of spice or seasoning popular in Nigeria ; any commercially made stock-cube; Maggi brand name

 mago mago

  deceitful

 mago mago

  trickery; {when someone is not acting straight forward}

 mahogany

  tree sp. Khaya senegalensis

 mai guard; main guards

  security guard; Northerner guard or uniform guard; information security covering industry news, opinion, reviews, analysis, research and advisory {Hausa}

 maintain

  be calm

 maintain

  to stay calm

 maja

  to harass, intimidate, cow someone down or put fear in some one

 majority

  used without article; They are majority.

 make

  let

 make

  let; used to signify that you are going to do something.

 make

  to do {hair} she has gone to salon to make her hair

 make accident

  to have an accident; The moto has made accident

 make eye

  wink

 make eye

  to wink at someone

 make I hear word

  shut up; keep quiet

 make mouth

  boast

 make mouth

  boast

 make sense

  used for something that has value

 make we

  let us

 makossa

  do not bring your problems over to my area and spoil my joy - sort of

 makossa music

  rhythmic dance music popular in Nigeria of putative Congolese origin

 mallam

  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

  mummy

 malo

  a derogatory term sometimes used to refer to a Hausa man.

 malu

  cow

 mama put

  local restaurant often found on the street corners {they are cheaper than proper restaurants}

 mamaput

  roadside restaurant

 mamba

  lead bars or ingots used to make shot for cannons Niger Delta area.

 mami water

  {Pronounced - Mami Wata...} spirits of the Water; like a Mermaid {at most times they're females}

 Mami-Wata

  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

  to hit or beat something or someone

 mammy

  woman, usually applied to mature women who run market-stalls

 mammy market

  market attached to barracks where products for soldiers are sold, such as dogmeat

 mammy water

  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

  lorry converted to carry passengers on seats facing backwards arch. as replaced by other types

 man no die

  amullette {protective medicine}

 man no man

  corruption and nepotism

 manage

  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

 manchester

  to feel horny

 manchi

  a guy

 manya

  to get drunk or intoxicated on drugs or alchohol

 mar le; momsi

  mummy

 mara

  mara can be used to depict madness.

 market woman

  woman who regularly sells in the market, trader

 marle

  used to refer to a mother

 mary amaka

  to dress very covered or modestly without show any kind of body shape or curves.

 masham

  drop a passenger

 maskaform

  to misbehave.

 match

  to tread on, to trample on; Match on it trample on it Confusion with mash? to mash palm-oil

 matchet

  machete, used for cutting vegetation; cutlass

 matchstick

  match.

 mate

  co-wife ; social class; people on the same level

 maternity

  maternity clinic

 mbeke

  white man; shouted at foreigners in the south-central regions of Nigeria. In Port Harcourt area it is bekee

 meat

  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

  salad; foreign cuisine

 medicine

  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

  mediocre person can be pluralised; Falling out of use.

 meek

  timid {but applied to mind} The stock market is not for meek minds

 meet

  to encounter, but used for objects and situations; I met your absence.

 megaurd

  security officer; usually a watches and opens the gate of a house

 mek

  make

 mellow

  to calm down or take it easy

 mense

  to menstruate; she has stopped mensing

 mentor

  role model

 meow

  to escape; disappear; to leave in a haste

 meruwa

  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

  messing up and not behaving as expected

 mess

  to fart or pollute the air

 mess {up}

  to fart {pidgin}

 mess up with

  to socialise with in a disapproved way; The Hausa boys were messing up with Christian girls

 mess, make a

  to cast in an inferior light my wife's meals will always make a mess of any food I eat outside

 mgbeke

  an unrefined girl especially from the eastern part of Nigeria

 mi ma

  myself

 mia

  to flee; to hurry away

 microchip

  tiny piece of paper with useful information concealed on the body in an exam

 Middle Belt

  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

  large, powerful, overbearing; it is very mighty archaic in Standard English but current

 mind

  usual in the expression... Don't mind.. + pron. meaning; Don't pay any attention to..

 mind

  want, like would you mind some biscuits? Would you like some biscuits? Has no negative implication mineral; soft drink

 mineral

  soft drinks

 minerals

  soft drinks packaged in 35cl glass bottles.

 mise

  to be miserly; I have to mise my money; I must mind my money carefully back-formation from 'miser'

 misfire

  say something stupid or irrelevant

 miss, to

  to not have, to have lost; she missed her husband her husband is no longer around {dead, divorced etc.}

 missing, to get

  lost, vanished Sah, the key got missing

 misyarn

  miscommunicate

 misyarn

  to talk rubbish; trash or wrong thing

 MKO

  Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola {MKO} {June 12}

 mo gbe!!!!

  I am in trouble {Yoruba}

 mo-ed

  to get drunk

 mofty

  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

  bean Cake

 moinmoin

  cake made of boiled Bambara groundnuts, commonly sold in markets

 molue

  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

  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

  morning

 momsi

  mother

 money

  as in Standard English but also 'cost' Your money is.. It costs...

 money bags

  an individuals who assumed leadership of political parties because they have the enormous financial capacity

 money for hand

  commercialised sex

 money-minded

  obsessed with obtaining money {≠stingy} Girls are money-minded. {Onitsha Market pamphlet}

 monkey

  As in Standard English; also derogatory, insulting of a person; Who is that monkey?

 monkey post

  narrow football goal post

 monthend

  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

  mobile police

 Mopol

  Mobile Police, an extremely aggressive force brought out in times of civil emergency nickname is 'Kill and Go'

 moreso

  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

  a clean shaved head or hair cut.

 moto

  car; motor; Cars in a bad shape are often referred moto.

 motor bike

  motor cycle {see machine or okada}

 motor-park

  garage for commercial vehicles, bus station garage in this sense

 move

  steal; go

 move with

  to accompany on a regular basis, usually implying friendship he moves with me we always go about together.

 moze

  a girl

 mozz

  it is used to tell someone to get out of one's sight {e.g. Abeg mozz, you're too dull}

 Mr. Hare

  common protagonist of folk-tales in the north = {Mr} Tortoise in the south

 Mr. Man

  Way of addressing unknown to you; Disappearing?

 mud

  to slap dollops of mud on a house either in building or sealing cracks They are mudding that person's house

 mugu

  a fool

 mugun

  foolish person; a victim of scammer.

 mumsi

  see momsi

 mumu

  a foolish person

 mumu

  fool {also see Ode}

 mumuni

  a very stupid person

 mungu

  fool

 muri/muritala

  twenty naira note

 murtala

  Twenty Naira banknote from the portrait of Gen. Murtala Mohammed who appears on the note {Igbo isi Mohammed = N20.00 = 20 Naira}

 musu

  foolish person; a victim of scammer.

 mutallab

  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

  used when one does not have money

 my slick

  my girlfriend