Yoruba slang Lagos uses every day

Lagos sits in the Yoruba heartland of south-western Nigeria, and its everyday speech shows it. Even people whose first language is Igbo, Hausa or English will say oya, abi and sha without thinking, because those Yoruba words have moved into Lagos Pidgin and casual Nigerian English. Linguists describe Lagos Pidgin as heavily influenced by Yoruba borrowings, and you can hear it on any bus.

Yoruba itself is one of Africa’s biggest languages, with about 48 million first-language speakers (Ethnologue, 2023), mainly in south-western Nigeria, Benin and Togo. It is a tonal language with three level tones, high, mid and low, which is why the same letters can mean different things. In writing, tones are shown with accents (ọ̀gá), but in slang and on social media the accents usually disappear. We give the accents where it helps.

The everyday words

Slang with a Lagos edge

These are newer, or more strictly slang, and they shift faster:

• Japa: to emigrate, usually for better work or pay. In Yoruba, jápa means to run away or flee, from já (dash) plus an intensifier. Its emigration sense took off in the late 2010s. (More in our piece on japa.)
• Gbese: debt, and by extension being deep in trouble.
• Idan: literally magic; used for a brilliant, street-smart go-getter, or as praise for something impressive.
• O por: “it’s plenty”, said when you are impressed.
• Mafo: don’t be scared; don’t let it rattle you.
• Lori iro: telling lies so outrageous they could wake the dead.
• Omo iya mi: literally “my mother’s child”; used for a close friend, like “my brother”.
• Oto ge: enough is enough.

Putting them together

In real Lagos speech these words rarely come one at a time. They land in the middle of English or Pidgin sentences, and two or three can share a line:

• “Oya, let’s go, the bus is leaving.” (Come on, let’s go.)
• “You’ve eaten, abi? Your brother nko?” (You’ve eaten, right? What about your brother?)
• “I’m tired, but I’ll come sha.” (I’m tired, but I’ll come anyway.)
• “Omo, the queue is long patapata.” (Wow, the queue is really long.)

Notice that the grammar stays English or Pidgin; the Yoruba word adds the tone. That is the easiest way to start using them yourself.

Yoruba words you already know

Some Yoruba words are so much a part of Lagos that they have entered Nigerian English, and even the Oxford English Dictionary. Danfo, the yellow Lagos minibus, is from Yoruba, and was added to the OED in 2020 along with buka (a roadside restaurant), which comes from Hausa and Yoruba. Read about the danfo and the agberos who work the bus stops.

And Lagos itself has a Yoruba name: Eko, which is also the name linguists give the Lagos dialect of Yoruba.

One that is not Yoruba

Amebo, a gossip, sounds as if it belongs on this list, and many people assume it does. Wiktionary traces it instead to Urhobo, a language of the Niger Delta, and notes that it became famous as a character’s name in the Nigerian TV and radio series The Village Headmaster. It is a good reminder that Lagos slang borrows from all over Nigeria, not just from Yoruba.

Where meanings vary

Yoruba slang changes by generation and by neighbourhood. A word your aunt uses one way, your younger cousin may use another. Sources also disagree on newer terms, and on social media the same word is spelled several ways, with or without tone marks. The core words in the first table are stable; the slang list is a snapshot. If a Lagosian uses one differently, take their word for it.

Respect matters too. Yoruba is a full language with a deep literature, proverbs and music, not just a source of fun words. If these catch your ear, a Yoruba course is the next step. For the Pidgin that sits alongside it, see our Nigerian slang dictionary.

Yoruba on June 12 Street

AJ Cities is a free open-world game set on the edge of Ajegunle, Lagos, and its characters come from all over Nigeria. Tara, the hairdresser outside the main gate, came to Lagos from Abeokuta; Tiny from Ilesa; Sarge from Kano; and Chuks grew up in Ajegunle itself. The Yoruba words that every Lagosian shares are there in the story: the officer in the bush everyone calls Oga Radio, the market price that goes up for an oyinbo, and Chuks asking AJ, “Because of the accent, abi?” Start with AJ’s story.

What does oya mean in Yoruba?

Come on, let’s go. It is a call to action, used across Lagos in Yoruba, Pidgin and casual English.

What does sha mean?

Anyway, or regardless. It is a Yoruba emphasis word that has moved into Pidgin: “I’ll come sha.”

Is amebo a Yoruba word?

Probably not. Wiktionary traces it to Urhobo; it became famous as a character’s name in the Nigerian series The Village Headmaster.

How many people speak Yoruba?

About 48 million as a first language (Ethnologue, 2023), mainly in south-western Nigeria, Benin and Togo, plus about 2 million second-language speakers.