Nigerian Pidgin dictionary

English-lexifier creole of Nigeria. Tense and aspect are carried by pre-verbal markers (dey, don, go, bin) rather than inflection; 'na' is the equating copula; 'no' is the all-purpose negator.

Entries

1460

English forms indexed

1391

Nigerian Pidgin forms

1545

Longest phrase

6 words

80 results

how far interj casualstreet

hello, hi, hey

Also: abeg how far · how you dey · how you de

Default greeting; literally 'how far'

How far, my guy
Hello, my friend

good morning interj polite

good morning

good evening interj polite

good evening

how you dey phrase casual

how are you, how are you doing

Also: how body · how e dey

How you dey today?
How are you today?

I dey fine phrase casual

i am fine, i am well, i am good

Also: body dey inside cloth

we go see interj casual

goodbye, bye, see you later

Also: shey we go see · bye bye

abeg interj casualstreet

please

From Yoruba-influenced 'I beg'; softens any request

Abeg help me
Please help me

thank you interj

thank you, thanks

Also: I dey hail · na you biko

sorry interj

sorry, excuse me

Also: no vex · wait na

'no vex' = don't be annoyed

wetin wh

what

Also: weting · weti

Also 'wetin be' before a noun phrase

Wetin be dis?
What is this?

why wh

why

Also: wetin make · how come

how wh

how

where wh

where

Also: na where

who wh

who

Also: who be · who be that

when wh

when

Also: wetin time be

which one wh

which

chop v

eat, eats, ate, eaten

Also 'chop' = to embezzle, in political usage

I don chop
I have eaten

food n

food, meal

Also: chow

drink v

drink, drinks, drank

water n

water

money n

money, cash

Also: kudi · ego · owo · chanja

'kudi' (Hausa), 'ego' (Igbo), 'owo' (Yoruba) all circulate

work v

work, works, worked, job

Also: hustle

go v

go, goes, went, gone

come v

come, comes, came

commot v

leave, left, depart

Also: waka · comot

'commot' < 'come out'

enta v

enter

run v

run, ran, flee

Also: waka fast

waka v

walk

Also a noun: 'waka' = a journey or a hustle

talk v

talk, speak, spoke, say, said

Also: yarn

Wetin you talk?
What did you say?

tell v

tell, told

hear v

hear, heard, listen

see v

see, saw, seen, look

sabi v

know, knew, known, understand

From Portuguese 'saber'. Also expertise: 'she sabi book'

I no sabi
I do not know

wan v

want, wants, wanted

like v

like, likes, enjoy

love v

love, loves

give v

give, gave, given

take v

take, took, taken

Also: carry

bring v

bring, brought

buy v

buy, bought

sell v

sell, sold

pay v

pay, paid

help v

help, helps, helped, assist

wait v

wait, waits, waited

stop v

stop, stops, stopped

start v

start, begin, began

finish v

finish, finished, complete

do v

do, does, did, done

make v

make, makes, made

get v

get, got, gotten, obtain

get v

have, has, had, own

Possession is 'get': 'I get money'

find v

look for, search, seek

see v

find, found, discover

Also: find

think v

think, thought, believe

forget v

forget, forgot, forgotten

remember v

remember

sleep v

sleep, slept

wake v

wake up, awake

sidon v

sit, sat

< 'sit down'

stand v

stand, stood

laugh v

laugh, laughed

cry v

cry, cried, weep

shout v

shout, scream, yell

fight v

fight, fought

beat v

beat, hit, strike

tief v

steal, stole, stolen

Also the noun 'tief' = a thief

lie v

lie, lied

gbege v

cheat, defraud, scam

Also: 419 · jibiti

'419' from the Nigerian criminal-code section on fraud

die v

die, died, dead

Also: kpai

kill v

kill, killed

born v

born, give birth

marry v

marry, married

Also: e marry

man n

man, men

Also: guy · bros

woman n

woman, women

Also: madam · aunty

boy n

boy, boys

Also: small boy

girl n

girl, girls

Also: babe · small girl

pikin n

child, children, kid, kids

< Portuguese 'pequeno'. Plural: 'pikin dem'

padi n

friend, friends

Also: guy · my person · correct guy

broda n

brother

Also: bros

sista n

sister

On spelling: Spelling is not standardised. This engine writes a widely-readable 'Naija' orthography and shifts towards phonetic spellings at the 'street' register.

Sources

Faraclas, N. (1996) Nigerian Pidgin, Routledge Descriptive Grammars
Mensah, E. (2011) Lexicalization in Nigerian Pidgin
Naijá orthography proposals, Mazidi & Esizimetor (NAIJA Languej Akedemi)