Sheng is a Swahili

Swahili language

Swahili or Kiswahili is a Bantu language spoken by various ethnic groups that inhabit several large stretches of the Mozambique Channel coastline from northern Kenya to northern Mozambique, including the Comoro Islands. It is also spoken by ethnic minority groups in Somalia...

-based patois

Patois

Patois is any language that is considered nonstandard, although the term is not formally defined in linguistics. It can refer to pidgins, creoles, dialects, and other forms of native or local speech, but not commonly to jargon or slang, which are vocabulary-based forms of cant...

 or slang

Slang

Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...

-based language, originating in Nairobi

Nairobi

Nairobi is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The city and its surrounding area also forms the Nairobi County. The name "Nairobi" comes from the Maasai phrase Enkare Nyirobi, which translates to "the place of cool waters". However, it is popularly known as the "Green City in the Sun" and is...

, Kenya

Kenya

Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...

, and influenced by the many languages spoken there. The word is coined from the two words - (S)wahili and (Eng)lish.

While primarily a language of urban youths, it has spread across social classes to the halls of the Kenyan parliament and geographically to neighbouring Tanzania

Tanzania

The United Republic of Tanzania is a country in East Africa bordered by Kenya and Uganda to the north, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the west, and Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique to the south. The country's eastern borders lie on the Indian Ocean.Tanzania is a state...

 and Uganda

Uganda

Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...

.

Originating in the early 1970s in the Eastlands area of Nairobi (variously described as a 'slum', 'ghetto' or 'suburb'), Sheng is now heard among matatu

Matatu

In Kenya and neighboring nations matatu are privately owned minibuses although pick-up trucks were in the past pressed into service as these East African share taxis. Often decorated, many matatu feature portraits of the famous or slogans and sayings, some religious.These minibuses ply set routes,...

 drivers across the region, and in the popular media. Most of the Sheng words are introduced in various communities and schools and given wide exposure by music artists who include them in their lyrics, hence the rapid growth. It can be assumed to be the first language of many Kenyans in urban areas. Like all slang, it is mainly used by the youth and is part of popular culture in this country. It also evolves rapidly, as words are moved into and out of slang use. It is finding broad use among East African hip hop

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 artists, both mainstream and "underground", whose music helps spread the language and contribute to rapid changes or shifts in Sheng vocabulary, but also among university and secondary-school students.
Although the grammar, syntax, and much of the vocabulary are drawn from Swahili, Sheng borrows from English

English language

English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 and from the languages of the various ethnic groups in Kenya, including Gĩkũyũ

Gikuyu language

Gikuyu or Kikuyu is a language of the Bantu family spoken primarily by the Kikuyu people of Kenya. Numbering about 6 million , they are the largest ethnic group in Kenya. Gikuyu is spoken in the area between Nyeri and Nairobi. Gikuyu is one of the five languages of the Thagichu subgroup of the...

, Luo

Luo languages

The Nilotic Luo languages, or Lwoian, are a dozen languages spoken by the Luo peoples in an area ranging from southern Sudan via Uganda to southern Kenya, with Dholuo extending into northern Tanzania and Alur into the Democratic Republic of the Congo. They form one of the two branches of Western...

 and Kamba. Words are also borrowed from languages that are neither a local language nor English — such as the Sheng word dame "lady" — which is a title of honour for a lady in English, or morgen

Morgen

A morgen was a unit of measurement of land in Germany, the Netherlands, Poland and the Dutch colonies, including South Africa and Taiwan. The size of a morgen varies from 1/2 to 2½ acres, which equals approximately 0.2 to 1 ha...

"morning" - a Sheng word used in some areas with a similar meaning in German

German language

German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....

.

Analysts of Kenyan education have claimed Sheng is a bad influence to education stating "The overbearing influence of Sheng is a leading cause of bad performance in Swahili among pupils."

Sheng vocabulary can vary significantly among regions of Kenya and East Africa, and even neighbourhoods of Nairobi. Most of the youth living in Nairobi often use Sheng as their everyday language rather than speak fluent Swahili or English.

Some examples of popular Sheng words are manzi or mresh which means "girl", beste which means "friend", "muenjoyo" which means "having fun", hanye which means "to go out at night" and waka which means "to get drunk".

Sample vocabulary

• deng'a, thwau', bunde, mchuma:gun
• kioo, oss:one hundred
• mwere,fala:stupid person
• ocha, moshatha:up country
• noma, niku hatata, wa gwan:in a mess
• njeve: cold
• fala: idiot
• chapo: chapati
  Chapati
  Chapati or Chapatti or Chapathi is an unleavened flatbread from the Indian subcontinent. Versions of it are found in Turkmenistan and in East African countries Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania...
  
  
• ngodha: underpants
• msee/kizee: guy
• mzeiya: dude
• mresh/supuu/manzi/shore: girl
• buda/mzae: old man
• zi/nada/do: no
• mathree/mat/jive/buu: matatu
  Matatu
  In Kenya and neighboring nations matatu are privately owned minibuses although pick-up trucks were in the past pressed into service as these East African share taxis. Often decorated, many matatu feature portraits of the famous or slogans and sayings, some religious.These minibuses ply set routes,...
  
   (nicknamed mathree because of matatu; tatu means three in Swahili).
• fegi/mozo/ngale,fuaka: cigarette
• karao/gova/sanse: police
• keja/hao/mbanyu: house
• matha/mathe/mthama/: woman
• mboch: house girl (maid)
• mbota: watch
• mbwenya: coat
• mdosi/sonko: boss, rich person
• msoto: poor person
• mdosi/fathe/mbuyu/buda: also means dad
• masa/mathe/mnyaka: mum
• chapaa/munde/mundez/niado/ganji/dough/cheddar: money
• nare: fire/matches
• ndai/moti/murenga/dinga: car
• nguenos/ngwex/mwewe: chicken
• njumu/njuti/ndula: shoes
• poa: cool
• ubao/maunenge: hunger
• veve/mbachu/shamba: khat
  Khat
  Khat, qat, gat or Waquish Spoken from true Yemeni, is a flowering plant native to tropical East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula....
  
  (Miraa)
• mburungo: cargo
• donje/kiatu/chapa: ugly
• kobole/ngovo/guoko: five Kenyan shillings
• ashuu/kindee,ikongo: ten Kenyan shillings
• blue/mbao: twenty Kenyan shillings
• finje/chuani: fifty Kenyan shillings
• soo/red: hundred Kenyan shillings
• rwabe/jill: two hundred kenyan shillings
• punch/jirongo: five hundred Kenyan shillings
• gee/kapaa/ngiri/ngwanye/thao/ndovu: one thousand Kenyan shillings
• vibanzi/chipo/chibaz/njiva: chips (i.e. french fries)
• ngata/gede: fuel/petrol
• fika: to go somewhere
• kirindi: crowd
• earthwire: neck tie
• ingiza njeve: to be afraid/chicken out
• ndo/chapaa/mkwanja:money
  Money
  Money is any object or record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a given country or socio-economic context. The main functions of money are distinguished as: a medium of exchange; a unit of account; a store of value; and, occasionally in the past,...
  
  
• sota,:go bankrupt
• chipo/vanga:french fries
  French fries
  French fries , chips, fries, or French-fried potatoes are strips of deep-fried potato. North Americans tend to refer to any pieces of deep-fried potatoes as fries or French fries, while in the United Kingdom, Australia, Ireland and New Zealand, long, thinly cut slices of deep-fried potatoes are...
  
  
• kei,muti-one thousand kenyan shillings.
• mbuyu,buda-dad
• masa,mokoro,moda- mother
• konkodi,makanga,manumber-bus conductor
• karao,gava,sanse - police
• dush,nyonyi- bird
• shonde- feaces,shit
• shower-rain
• dem,msusu,mroro,mama,shore-girl
• mtaa-city
• majuu,chambele-western world
• ocha-rural area
• mtoo,mchuma,rithe,fee-firearm
• mgoso,mlami-white/caucasian person
• keja,base,diggs-apartment
• mtiaji,msororaji-snitch
• deree,kigonyi-driver
• kauzi,thegi,dingo-thief/mugger/burglar
• githaa,masaa-time
• ishia,jikate-go
• mshikaji-boyfriend/girlfriend
• pasua,raruka-laugh
• kukarokota-take a nap
• nyaku,waka,washa-drink

External links

• Sheng Dictionary and translator.
• Talking Sheng: The role of a hybrid language in the construction of identity and youth culture in Nairobi, Kenya.
• English–Sheng/Sheng–English Lexicon