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Translate English to Nigerian | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nigerian Word |
Continuous Meaning |
ENGLISH NIGERIAN |
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P. |
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pa le |
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father {pronounced: Par-leh} |
paadi |
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friend |
paadi dem |
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friends |
pack |
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to carry away see where they are packing the sand from the riverbed |
pack |
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to park; please pack your car well common error on signboards |
pack |
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to put away, to remove, to steal; they packed it they stole it packing of water throwing out the water from a pond to catch the fish |
pack |
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to put inside, to tie up, to confine; she has packed her hair she has tied it up in a bun or ponytail. Those trousers pack your buttocks very well |
pack {out} |
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to pack up and leave the landlord warned him to pack out |
pack in |
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to move in they have packed in |
packer |
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a dust pan, shovel like utensil where dust is swept into for removal |
paco |
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broken biscuit mixed with milk and sugar into a paste. Popularized by Adesoye Colege Students. |
paddy |
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a friend |
padi |
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Good Friend! Homeboy, Homegirl; Best friend, etc... |
pain |
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to be painful This my leg pains me too much my leg is very painful it pains you, why? {common slogan on trucks}. |
palava |
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problem |
palava |
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problem |
palava |
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problem or trouble |
palaver |
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discussion, trouble, matter woman palaver; often used jocularly and in humorous versions of West African speech. {Portuguese} palabra |
pale |
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pal or friend |
pale and male |
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parent's {Father and Mother} |
palle |
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daddy |
palm-wine |
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sap tapped from the terminal bud of various palms, which ferments and is used as a drink. |
pami |
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palm wine, which is an alcoholic drink which consists of mainly the sap from palm trees; Right when the tree is tapped, the sap is non-alcoholic, but then it is fermented and some sweeteners may be added {mainly saccharin}. Usually randes from cream-color {e.g. Mister, how much you dey sell this gallon of pami?} |
pamy |
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palm wine |
panadol |
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a popular pain reliever, which is a white tablet; there is also panadol extra, which is stronger. |
pancake |
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make up |
pancake |
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makeup |
pancake yash |
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flat buttom, having no flesh and bony {e.g. some Oyibo have pancake yash} |
pant |
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women's knickers; she tore her pant. |
pantalun |
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bogus pair of trousers |
Panya |
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Fernando Po {Espana} |
papa |
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Father, grandfather |
par le; popsi |
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old man ; daddy |
para |
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to get angry |
parable |
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proverb; from early missionaries trying to explain parables as symbolic language |
parade |
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referred to as cult group; especially in Benin City {Edo state}. |
paraga |
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alcohol |
parastatal |
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a wholly or partly owned government company or corporation |
park one side |
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steer clear |
parle |
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Name for father |
parlour party |
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party held in the front room of the house |
parlour/palour |
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applied both to beer drinking places and to the sitting-room in a house. Beer palour or Let us go sit in the palour; The spelling palour is common on notices. Despite the spelling, always pronounced pala |
parol |
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activity |
paroles |
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movement; Man or woman one is seeing or intends to see |
parrot |
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a talkative |
parry away |
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to fend off; Farmers try to parry away the Fulani from their fields |
parti |
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party |
particulars |
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car papers Show me your particulars! a common demand by police at road-blocks. |
pass |
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to exceed, to surpass; he get money pass that man {Pidgin}. |
pass |
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to turn aside, to bend go straight then pass right. |
pass all |
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best watch doctor pass all {Pidgin} |
pass away |
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to pass the time over a period; a novel would help me pass away the weekend |
pass out |
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faint; graduate from a military college; graduate {usually from a high school - for example, I passed out of or from Oraifite Community Secondary School last year} |
passenja |
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the way passenger is pronounced. |
passport |
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passport photo Bring me one passport |
pata |
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underwear; Panties {Yoruba Word for Panties} |
patch |
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to repair a puncture; I will go to the vulcaniser to patch it |
paw |
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jibbrish; rubbish |
pay as you go |
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a prostitute |
pear |
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avocado pear; fruit of indigenous tree; Pachylobus edulis. |
peche |
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chill out; relax |
peel out |
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a variation of the Pidgin English phrase 'cut out' often used to refer to a hurried escape. |
pemee |
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to die. |
people |
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in the expression; How are your people? meaning extended family |
peper don rest |
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money has come |
pepper |
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chilli; Capsicum annuum {≠ European pepper} |
pepper |
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money |
pepper |
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naira notes |
pepper don rest |
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there is a lot of money or I have gotten a lot of money pepper; money |
pepper no rest |
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lack of Money |
pepper soup |
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a very spicy soup consisting of mainly goat, cow or chicken intestine. |
pepper soup |
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type of consomme soup made with meat or fish and containing chilli pepper but no oil |
pepper-fruit |
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fruit; chewed as a snack Dennetia tripetala |
peprish |
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peppery the soup is somehow peprish for 'pepperish' |
periwinkle |
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small, black-shelled shellfish, extremely popular as food along the coast. Tympanotonus fuscatus. ≠ British periwinkle. |
Person wey cry cry still dey see road |
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A person who is crying is still seeing |
personal person |
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best friend |
personnel |
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as in Standard English but used as a singular her friend was a personnel at Kingsway |
pesin |
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person |
petty petty |
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small, trifling, unimportant; Why do you give me such petty petty things? |
p-h |
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short form for Port Harcourt, which is the capital of Rivers State, the southernmost state in Nigeria {e.g. We're going p-h next tomorrow} |
Phar |
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pharmacist, abbreviation used on calling cards etc. |
pharisee |
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someone who's acting like a fool or someone who doesn't belong to the inner circle |
phone |
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to speak in a tone that is observes all of the phonics rules; to have a posh or foreign accent which is different from the regular Nigerian lazed accent {e.g. I try toast that babe but she con dey form phone for me like say I no go school} |
piante |
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go away |
pick |
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to pick up {phone} Will you not pick it? |
pick |
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to get {usually a vehicle}; He picked a taxi to Lagos. |
pickin |
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child |
pickin |
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an infant or a little baby. |
piece |
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measure of cloth. |
piece of cake |
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share of something; they are always asking for their piece of cake ≠ Standard Eenglish 'piece of cake' for easy to do |
pikin |
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child |
pikin |
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this word means child |
PILOT |
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the number plate given to cars that drive in front of a big man; ESCORT |
pin |
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to fix {stick} in ground Pin that stick here |
ping |
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send someone a BlackBerry Messenger (BBM) message {NOTE that PING!!! is not the same as sending someone a message} |
pire |
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{pronounced pie-ray} a pirated CD, usually an audio CD; this is much cheaper and available than original CDs. Pire CDs are usually produced by the well known duo, Big Boss Jiggaman, and his DJ Kev-D {e.g. Jaga, make you buy that pire 50 cent CD, because you no get the kishi to buy origo} |
piss |
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urinate |
pito |
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local beer brewed from sorghum, millet etc. {Hausa} |
pito pito |
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this word is used to describe something disgusting, probably semi liquid; Mud |
piyom |
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penis |
pkoki pkoki |
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derogatory term often used refer to sexual intercourse. |
place |
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place of origin, either town, country or region where is your place? i.e. where do you come from? |
plant |
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a large generator, which usually supplies electricity to a big building. |
plate-number |
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number-plate |
play |
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dance or masquerade; it is a play it is a masquerade or dance |
play |
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to caress sexually, make love; They are playing love |
play |
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to forage about {animals}; They just allow the chickens to be playing in the house anyhow |
play |
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to play as in Standard English, but also to perform dance or masquerade; they are playing a dodo they are performing a masquerade; They are playing masquerade today |
play play |
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lively or funny |
playground |
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place in a village where dances, masquerades, meetings etc. are held has no association with children |
playmates |
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two people in a joking relationship they are playmates. this implies they can abuse each other, sometimes violently, without offence being taken.; Sometimes this relationship also exist between households, clans or even tribes |
please |
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inserted in various positions in a sentence to express deference No, please! Forgive me for refusing |
plenti plenti |
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a lot, abundant |
plenty |
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plenty of he get plenty children. Pidgin |
plumpy |
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plump that woman is plumpy. {older?} |
PMB |
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President Muhammadu Buhari {PMB} |
poach |
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to have diarrhoea yesterday; I was poaching N.B. does not mean you have taken a medicine. {purge} |
poke nose |
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getting into someone else's business |
pokenose |
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interfere in matters that doesn't concern you |
police |
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policeman; one police is there taking bribe. |
politics |
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shorthand for the introduction of democratic elections in 1999 since there was politics we no longer pay tax on fish-ponds |
pomade |
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oily paste rubbed on the hair and body. can be extended to almost any sort of cream rubbed on the body |
pomo |
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aow skin, this is usually prominent form of meat for poor people |
pomp |
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running tap / Faucet |
pomshele |
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fine girl or chick |
popsi |
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father; also see fada or papa |
popsman |
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father |
porridge |
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cooked staple with sauce mixed in Southern |
porridge |
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heavy dumpling-like porridge of cereals such as sorghum, millet etc. served as a staple Northern |
porti |
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food not well cooked or mixing food ingredients the wrong way. |
poshey |
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hissing... To hiss |
possible best |
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best; I have tried my possible best. |
potash |
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yellowish-grey stone from the North Ground for use in cooking and with snuff. A mixture of sodium and potassium carbonate. |
potassium |
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blue mineral taken as medicine |
poto-poto |
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mud, dirty water, muddy or murky sanded water |
poultry |
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poultry farm; The committee inspected 15 poultries on campus. |
pound |
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to pound a staple into porrid not usually found in other senses |
poundi |
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pounded yam |
pour eye |
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to check out a place or something |
pra |
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leave quickly, escape |
prack |
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to have sexual intercourse |
praise-singer |
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musician or singer who sings praises to eminent people in the North {West Africa English} |
prawn |
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prawn, but also shrimp and other smaller crustaceans such as sqills and ghost shrimps |
pregnate |
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to make pregnant; she has been pregnated. He has pregnanted her; Also pregnant {stress on second syllable} |
presido |
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President or chairman of a group |
press |
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to fondle |
press |
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to iron; He is pressing clothes ≠ dry-cleaning as in Standard English |
price |
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to find out the price of Please price tomatoes for me! |
prick |
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the privat part of a male; penis |
private part |
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genitals. |
prizin |
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Prison; Jail; House Arest; lock up with criminals |
properties |
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property Collect your properties |
prostitute |
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to behave as a prostitute Becky began prostituting at age nineteen. {Information booklet} |
protector |
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metal grille placed over door or window as burglar-proofing |
provincial |
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small-minded, dull he is a provincial man |
provision |
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this is a term used to describe food, usually junk food like cookies, soda, instant noodles given to kids in boarding school to supplement the food provided by the school {e.g My mom go buy enough provisions for me this week! Indomie go dey, Digestive go dey, cornflakes go dey. Life go correct!} |
pudding |
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prepared food wrapped in leaves |
puff puff |
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popular bread-like snack made from dough; It is usually little round balls. |
puff-puff |
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round fried cakes made from flour and sugar also poff-poff puggy |
puna |
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a woman's vigina |
pupsi |
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daddy |
pure |
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don't feel right |
pure watar |
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locally sold packets of drinking water; also used to ask for a tip |
pure water |
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cheap {of goods} |
pure water |
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cheap/mass produced goods |
pure water |
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water {from any source} sealed inside plastic bags and sold cold from the fridge in the street Viable small businesses... are mostly in such trades as hair dressing and barbing salons, tailoring shops as well as "pure water" packaging businesses. |
purge |
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Diarrhea |
purge |
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to have diarrhoea yesterday; I was purging N.B. does not mean you have taken a medicine. { poach} |
pushful |
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pushy, ambitious, go-ahead |
put head |
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go ahead |
put on |
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as in Standard English, but also 'to wear' He is putting on shoes He is wearing shoes |
put to bed |
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give birth/have a baby {to solve a problem or to finish work on something and go to the next step?} {e.g. after we fought, he cooked for me so we put it to bed} |
put to bed |
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to give birth {to}; She put to bed a bouncing baby boy |
put to birth |
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to give birth |
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