List of English words of Niger-Congo origin

This is a list of English language words that come from the Niger-Congo languages. It excludes placenames except where they have become common words.

Bantu origin

• banjo – probably Bantu mbanza
• basenji – breed of dog from the Congo
• boma – probably from Swahili
• bwana – from Swahili, meaning an important person or safari leader
• chimpanzee – loaned in the 18th century from a Bantu language, possibly Kivili ci-mpenzi.^[1]
• dengue – possibly from Swahili dinga
• goober – possibly from Bantu (Kikongo and Kimbundu nguba)
• gumbo – from Bantu (Kimbundu ngombo meaning "okra")
• impala – from Zulu im-pala
• impi – from Zulu language meaning war, battle or a regiment
• indaba – from Xhosa or Zulu languages – 'stories' or 'news' typically conflated with 'meeting' (often used in South African English)
• jumbo – from Swahili (jambo or jumbe or from Kongo nzamba "elephant")
• kalimba
• Kwanzaa – recent coinage (Maulana Karenga 1965) as the name of a "specifically African-American holiday", abstracted from a Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning "first fruits [of the harvest]".
• lapa – from Sotho languages – enclosure or barbecue area (often used in South African English)
• macaque – from Bantu makaku through Portuguese and French
• mamba – from Zulu or Swahili mamba
• marimba – from Bantu (Kimbundu and Swahili marimba, malimba)
• okapi – from a language in the Congo
• safari – from Swahili travel, ultimately from Arabic
• sangoma – from Zulu – traditional healer (often used in South African English)
• Tilapia – Possibly a latinization "thiape", the Tswana word for fish.^[2]
• tsetse – from a Bantu language (Tswana tsetse, Luhya tsiisi)
• ubuntu – Nguni term for "mankind; humanity", in South Africa since the 1980s also used capitalized, Ubuntu, as the name of a philosophy or ideology of "human kindness" or "humanism".
• vuvuzela – musical instrument, name of Zulu or Nguni origin
• zebra – of unknown origin, recorded since c. 1600, possibly from a Congolese language, or alternatively from Amharic.
• zombie – likely from West African (compare Kikongo zumbi "fetish", Kimbundu nzambi "god"), but alternatively derived from Spanish sombra "shade, ghost".

Non-Bantu West African origin

• azawakh - probably from Fula or Tuareg. A breed of dogs from West and North Africa
• banana – West African, possibly Wolof banana
• bongo – West African boungu
• buckra – "white man or person", from Efik and Ibibio mbakara ^[3]
• chigger – possibly from Wolof and Yoruba jiga "insect")
• cola – from West African languages (Temne kola, Mandinka kolo)
• djembe – from West African languages
• jazz – from West African languages (Mandinka jasi, Temne yas)
• jive – possibly from Wolof jev
• juke, jukebox – possibly from Wolof and Bambara dzug through Gullah
• kwashiorkor – from Ga language, Coastal Ghana meaning "swollen stomach"
• Marímbula, plucked musical instrument (lamellophone) of the Caribbean islands
• merengue (dance) possibly from Fulani mererek i meaning to shake or quiver
• mumbo jumbo- from mandigo name Maamajombo, a masked dancer
• mojo – from Fula moco'o "medicine man" through Louisiana Creole French or Gullah
• obeah – from West African (Efik ubio, Twi ebayifo)
• okra – from Igbo ókùrù
• sambo – Fula sambo meaning "uncle"
• tango – probably from Ibibio tamgu
• tote – West African via Gullah
• voodoo – from West African languages (Ewe and Fon vodu "spirit")
• yam – West African (Fula nyami, Twi anyinam)

References

Notes

Sources

• Online Etymology Dictionary
• Common words of African origin-William Megenney, University of California, Riverside
• The Impact of African Languages on American English
• African American Vernacular English Vocabulary
• English words have African roots