A Guide to South African Slang Words

A Guide to South African Slang Words

Posted on 22 March, 2013 by Catherine Sempill

If you’re visiting South Africa and happen to overhear a conversation that sounds like this: “Howzit china. Eish! Had such a lekker jol last night hey, but yoh I’m babalas! But don’t worry, I’ll be there just now. Just passing the robots. Aweh bru.” You’d be forgiven for not understanding a word. The thing is, South Africa, like countries all over the world, has a colourful slang repertoire, made even more so by the fact that it encompasses a whole variety of local languages. To make life easier for our overseas visitors, we have compiled a list of the slang words you are most likely to encounter in your travels through South Africa.

Braai (rhymes with eye): essentially a barbeque, but an open fire is a must, also used as a verb as in to braai the meat

Bru / china / chommie/boet (rhymes with soot): friend, buddy, mate

Howzit: short for ‘how’s it going?’/ used as a greeting like hello or hi

Robot: traffic light

Jol: party/ good time e.g. ‘That show was a jol.’ Also used as a verb e.g. ‘I’m going jolling on Friday night.’

Lekker: great/ delicious e.g. ‘This meat is lekker!’ Or ‘That was a lekker party!’

Babalas: hung-over

Takkies: closed sport/walking shoes

Chips vs. slap chips: chips = crisps, slap chips = [thicker, less crunchy version of] French fries

Bakkie: pick-up truck

Just now/ now now: any time between right now and sometime tomorrow.

Eish: an exclamation, can be positive e.g. ‘Eish! That was quick!’ Or negative ‘Eish! That hurt.’

Yebo: literally means ‘yes’

While there are many, many South African slang words, these are the ones you are most likely to encounter as a tourist. Having read through them, you should now be able to a) decode that cryptic monologue in the first paragraph, and b) communicate like a local on your visit to SA.

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