Bongo

See also: bongo, bongó, bongô, bỡ ngỡ, and boŋo

English

Proper noun

Bongo

A Central Sudanic language spoken by the Bongo people in sparsely populated areas of Bahr al Ghazal in South Sudan.
Synonyms: Bungu, Dor

Noun

Bongo pl (plural only)

An ethnic group living at the eastern side of the Albert Nile River in northwestern Uganda and in neighbouring South Sudan in small, scattered settlements south and east of Wau.
An agricultural people of Gabon in equatorial Africa.
Synonyms: Babongo, Bazimba

Cebuano

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /ˈboŋo/ [ˈbo.ŋo]
Rhymes: -oŋo
Hyphenation: Bo‧ngo

Proper noun

Bongo (Badlit spelling ᜊᜓᜅᜓ)

a surname

Swahili

Etymology

From bongo (“brain”). Referring to the difficult conditions during the economic crisis of the 1980s which required one's own wits (having "big brains") to survive working in Dar es Salaam, later extended to all of Tanzania.^[1]

Pronunciation

Audio (Kenya): (file)

Proper noun

Bongo

(dated) nickname for Dar es Salaam: the largest city in Tanzania.
nickname for Tanzania: a country in East Africa.

Derived terms

mbongo (“Tanzanian”)

References

^ Suriano, Maria (2011), “Hip-Hop and Bongo Flavour Music in Contemporary Tanzania: Youths’ Experiences, Agency, Aspirations and Contradictions”, in Africa Development‎^[1], volume 36, numbers 3-4, page 115 of 113-126:
In respect to its origins, the word bongo (the augmentative form of ubongo, ‘brain’) means ‘Tanzania’ in Swahili slang, with an allusion to the ‘big brain’ necessary in order to survive in the country. It should be specified that the first meaning of the word bongo was ‘Dar es Salaam’ (during the economic crisis in the 1980s, one needed wits to survive there).

[1] Suriano, Maria (2011), “Hip-Hop and Bongo Flavour Music in Contemporary Tanzania: Youths’ Experiences, Agency, Aspirations and Contradictions”, in Africa Development‎^[1], volume 36, numbers 3-4, page 115 of 113-126:
In respect to its origins, the word bongo (the augmentative form of ubongo, ‘brain’) means ‘Tanzania’ in Swahili slang, with an allusion to the ‘big brain’ necessary in order to survive in the country. It should be specified that the first meaning of the word bongo was ‘Dar es Salaam’ (during the economic crisis in the 1980s, one needed wits to survive there).

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