kanga

See also: kānga and känga

English

Etymology 1

From Punjabi ਕੰਘਾ (kaṅghā).

Alternative forms

• kangha

Noun

kanga (plural kangas)

1. (Sikhism) A comb, required to be worn at all times by Sikhs, one of the five Ks.

Etymology 2

From Swahili kanga.

Noun

kanga (plural kangas)

1. A colourful printed cotton garment worn by women in East Africa.

Etymology 3

From kangaroo, rhyming slang for screw.

Noun

kanga (plural kangas)

1. (slang) A prison warder.
   • 1996, Angela Devlin, Prison Patter‎^[1], Waterside Press, →ISBN:

     There are some 32 different terms for prison officers, from the humorously affectionate kanga(rhyming slang:kangaroo = screw) and the variants Scooby-Doo and Dr. Who via the mildly confrontational German (as if still the enemy over 50 years after World War II!) to the outright abuse of shit-parcel.

   • 2002, Julian Broadhead, Laura Kerr, Prison Writing: A Collection of Fact, Fiction and Verse‎^[2], Waterside Press, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 90:

     So we thought there'd been trouble over there, maybe all the kangas were getting into mufti.

   • 2006 February 9, Kevin Lewis, Kaitlyn‎^[3], Penguin UK, →ISBN, →OCLC:

     ‘Fucking loony bin more like. There's no one sick here, not physically anyway. Don't worry, you'll get used to it. It's the kangas you want to watch out for.‘
     ‘Kangas?’
     ‘Kangaroo. Screw.’

   • 2010 February 4, Michael Arditti, The Enemy of the Good‎^[4], Quercus Publishing, →ISBN, →OCLC:

     The kangas allow me the bottles for my ships.

   • 2013, Jonathan Asser, David Mackenzie, Starred Up‎^[5], spoken by Neville Love (Ben Mendelsohn):

     They will f***ing dangle you, the kangas. [They'll] make it look like suicide.

   • 2017 April 27, Kate Dunn, The Dragonfly‎^[6], Aurora Metro Publications Ltd., →ISBN, →OCLC:

     Even the diversionary fracas on the far side of the room failed to divert him, although the kangas went racing across to deal with it — there was always some kind of a dust up going on.

Anagrams

• Kagan, kagan, nagak, ngaka

Abidji

Noun

kanga

1. crab

References

• Moïse Adjèbè Aka, Émile Yédé N’guessan, Jonas N’guessan et Chantal Tresbarats, Syllabaire abidji, Abidjan, Les nouvelles éditions africaines, coll. « Je lis ma langue », 1984.

Anyi

Noun

kanga

1. crab

Baoule

Noun

kanga

1. crab

Bongo

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kàᵑɡà/

Noun

kanga

1. ostrich

References

• Moi, Daniel Rabbi and Mario Lau Babur Kuduku, Sister Mary Mangira Michael, Simon Hagimir John, Rapheal Zakenia Paul Mafoi, Nyoul Gulluma Kuduku. 2018. Bongo – English Dictionary. Juba, South Sudan. SIL-South Sudan.

Cebuano

Pronunciation

• Hyphenation: ka‧nga

Noun

kanga

1. (pathology) leprosy

Japanese

Romanization

kanga

1. Rōmaji transcription of かんが

Kituba

Verb

kanga

1. to pack
2. to close

Lingala

Verb

kanga

1. to pack
2. to close

Luba-Kasai

Verb

kanga

1. to fry

Shona

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *-kánga.

Verb

-kángá (infinitive kukángá)

1. to fry

Swahili

FWOTD – 14 June 2020

Alternative forms

• khanga

Etymology

From Proto-Bantu *nkángà.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɑ.ᵑɡɑ/

• Audio (Kenya)

  (file)

Noun

kanga (n class, plural kanga)

1. kanga (garment)
2. guinea fowl
   • 2005, Masomo ya Msingi 8‎^[7], →ISBN, page 21:

     Huyu kanga nitamla peke yangu.

     This guinea fowl will eat it alone.

Descendants

• → English: kanga
• → Malagasy: akanga

Yoruba

Alternative forms

• kànǹga

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kã̀.ɡā/

Noun

kànga

1. water well, a shallow well

Derived terms

• kànga ẹlẹ́rọ (“deepwell”)
• kànga ìgbàlódé (“deepwell”)
• kàngádẹ̀rọ (“borehole, electric well”)