|
Translate English to Nigerian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
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!} |
|