L Letter Words for Nigerian English
to Nigerian Translation

Nigerian

Word

Continuous Meaning

ENGLISH

NIGERIAN

 L.

 lace

  cloth in the style broderie Anglaise, with many gaps. Imported from Austria and prestigous because expensive; they are wearing lace

 laf laf

  absurd or comical

 laff

  means Laugh

 lai

  lie

 lai lai

  never or not in a million years

 lai lai to lai lai

  never ever

 lailai

  never! {Yoruba}

 lakpa

  deny; refuse

 Laliga; La liga

  Spanish premier league; La liga premier league table

 land

  to hit or to arrive

 langalanga

  curved piece of iron used to swipe at grass and knock it down. an extraordinarily ineffective tool, often used by schoolchildren

 lap

  carry someone on your lap during a car ride

 lap{s}

  thigh{s}, lap; Chicken laps for sale. {notice} She put the baby on her laps. The deceased was seated at the back of the vehicle carrying a fellow student on her laps; She took a gallon containing kerosene, doused some on the girl's hands and laps and set her ablaze.

 las gidis

  alternative name for the Lagos

 lasgidi

  lasgidi or gidi means lagos {the former captal of Nigeria}

 lash

  to have sex

 last

  as in English but in temporal expressions; it follows the noun Sunday last, I went to Kaduna

 last

  final, referring to price of goods; what is your last price? The price is 100 Naira, last.

 late

  dead, of people {but used without 'the' and more informally} late Chuks gave me this book can be intensified. The very late Emir of Gwandu, therefore, one who died forty years ago.

 lately

  late He came lately

 launch

  to use a newly bought product for the for the first time.

 launching

  Nigerian ceremony to introduce a new publication, society or institution where money is raised through public pledges; They are having a launching for the book.

 lean

  thin, but with implication that leanness is caused by troubles. Being thin does not have a positive cultural value in West Africa

 learner

  someone that is inexperienced or clueless

 leather {leda}

  plastic {bag} put it in a leather {bag}

 leave

  to leave off, to stop He should leave chasing girls

 left lefty

  a left-handed person

 left-hand drive

  hair-style where the hair is plaited into cornrows on the left of the head; also 'right-hand drive'

 leg

  leg, but also 'ankle', 'foot' Wipe your leg on the door-mat, please! or My leg is paining me too much; I have twisted my ankle Adapted from African languages where leg often stands for other parts of the lower body. Parallel usages of hand to include arm

 leg, to have long

  to be influential, to have connections

 legbere

  a novice

 legedis benz

  {derived from Mercedes Benz} someone without a car and who walks everywhere.

 legedisbenz

  someone who walks everywhere because they don't own a car

 lego

  to leave or to allow

 legxus

  someone who walks everywhere because they don't own a car

 legz

  shoe.

 leke leke

  an all white bird called cattle egret

 leke leke

  cattle egret

 lekpa

 someone who is slim; a thin person {usually a female}

 lekpa

  a thin/slider person

 lekpa shandy

  very slander person

 lem

  to eat {verb}; food {noun} {e.g. Once I reach house, I will lem garri and beans}

 lemb

  to eat {e.g. Let's go! I want to lemb, my belle is empty}

 lend out

  to lend

 lepa

  skinny bony person

 lepka shandy

  very slander person

 let my people go

  this is when someone berely passes an exam

 lette

  food {noun}; to eat food {verb}

 levels

  Status in society or within a group of friends.

 lick {soup}

  eat "soup" While eating with me, you are licking the soup, but I am eating the porrid

 lie lie

  a liar

 life

  at all; not a chance; impossible

 lift

  elevator or escalator

 lift

  to give a lift to; Will you lift me to Oshodi?

 light

  electrical power - usually coming from NEPA {see NEPA} or the PHC.

 light

  electricity; they have taken the light; the power has gone off.

 light food

  food that comes in separated grains or pieces applies to rice, macaroni etc. Contrast with 'solid food'.

 like play like play

  before you knew it

 list out

  to list I cannot fully list out all its various uses.

 liver

  courage; audacity {'to have liver' means to be brave, often in a foolhardy way}

 liver melt

  surprise

 load

  bundle, pack, head-load, luggage Collect your loads N.B. can also have a plural, loads

 lobster

  large shrimp {Macrobrachium vollenhovenii} Nigeria has only shrimps, no true crayfish or lobsters

 local

  fraud that originates and terminates in Nigeria

 local

  provincial, unsophisticated he is a local man!

 local Maggi

  flat cakes made from the fermented seeds of the locust tree and used as a soup condiment; Maggi, a commercial stock cube sold widely in West Africa

 locker

  school desk with shelves, usually with an opening to keep books in.

 lockito

  uninformed; not well traveled

 locust

  locust-bean tree Parkia biglobosa. N.B. locust as an insect is usually 'cricket'

 lodge

  hotel; 'guest inn'

 loki

  somebody who is not sophisticated or rash. this comes from the word LOCAL - omebody who has not been around da block or da country, to know what's really good or whats in fashion {e.g. allow the girl, she be loki thats why she just dey wear leggins}

 lol

  pity

 Lolagbola

  trade-name for timber from the tree Oxystigma oxyphyllum

 lonely

  lonely, also alone If we go, she will be lonely in the house. If we go, she will be left on her own in the house. The two meanings may well merge in African culture.

 long

  long

 long leg

  undue influence for favour

 long leg

  well connected

 long longy

  a tall person

 long thing

  empty promises; story; long story

 long throat

  glutton

 long throat

  greed eater; always want to eat when others are eating

 longa throat

  greedy; unsatisfied person

 long-leg

  influence, personal connection in power; He gained his position through long-leg; Vernacular e.g. Hausa dogon kafa

 look for ur own life

  doesn't care about his or her life

 loose

  to be loose, to come loose, to untie; The thing has loosed. it has become loose. Loose it untie it.

 loss

  to be lost, as in don loss or get loss; The thing has got loss. it has got lost Pidgin

 lost

  loss lost of thousands of Naira.

 Lugard

  old-fashioned; This your shoe is Lugard

 luggages

  as Standard English but pluralised; Luggages carried at owner's risk. {Notice}

 luxury bus

  large coach as opposed to bus, usually applied to small vans also luxurious bus

 lwkmd

  a facebook abbreviation for 'laugh wan kill me die'... used when something is very funny and you can barely stop laughing {e.g. omo dis show we dey watch go kill me oo..lwkmd!}