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.

A very weird way of spelling Sex. These people do it on social media.
Example

I thought they broke up a long time ago only to find out they still have sekisi everyday.

Skhokho 28 April 2021
A skrr skrr way of referring to the ancestors.
Example

You fam, the underground gang won't be happy about that.

Mbali 26 April 2021
What this other gender say when a guy buys them a lousy streetwise 2.
Example

He took me out yesterday, thungisani

Chief 25 April 2021
A Xhosa term for grootman or just a man nje.
Example

Ayicatchi idyan. A dyan doesn't catch feelings.

DRex 19 April 2021
A twitter celebrity who usually has a lot of followers.
Example

These twelebs are always plagiarising our posts and get more likes for them.

Mbali 08 April 2021
Term mostly used in the Northern parts of the country to refer to sweet flavoured and coloured popcorns.

Some parts of the country call them amaKip-kip
Example

I bought my nephews some skopas from the Spaza shop.

Sinazo 08 April 2021
Derived from Xhosa term "Andisenxile" which means I am so drunk. It is mostly used by girls on social to indicate that they've had too much to drink.
Can also be spelled as senxl.
Example

Yho snxl kamnandi mntkbw.

Sinazo 07 April 2021
Mjolo basically means dating. It's derived from ukujola which means to date. Therefore mjolo is the act of dating (ukujola).


Other people may spell it as mojolo
Example

Mjolo will nyisa you.

Danny 06 April 2021
Ayoba is a South African slang, which means something β€œcool”, β€œokay”, or β€œall right”. It was popular before the social media age but its use has declined.
Example

Girl 1: We should go to the mall tomorrow.

Girl 2: Ayoba

Mbali 04 April 2021
The term refers to a woman or women who are identified as being available for the pleasure and entertainment of men.
Example

John vul'igate, nasi istocko.

John open the gate, we have the stocko.

Mr Trends 16 October 2020
To show anger or disbelief.
Example

Yeses maan, I am angry. How can this boy do this to me mara.

DRex 06 August 2020
Ben 10 is the term used to describe young males who like dating older women. In most cases, these women give these young males money on top of all the sex.
Example

Did you hear that she got herself a Ben 10?

Chief 01 August 2020

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