# List of English words of Niger-Congo origin

This is a list of English language words that come from the Niger-Congo languages. It excludes placenames except where they have become common words.

## Bantu origin

* banjo – probably Bantu mbanza
* basenji – breed of dog from the Congo
* boma – probably from Swahili
* bwana – from Swahili, meaning an important person or safari leader
* chimpanzee – loaned in the 18th century from a Bantu language, possibly Kivili ci-mpenzi.
* dengue – possibly from Swahili dinga
* goober – possibly from Bantu (Kikongo and Kimbundu nguba)
* gilo - from Kimbundu njilu, via Portuguese jiló
* gumbo – from Bantu (Kimbundu ingombo, plural of kingombo, meaning "okra")
* impala – from Zulu im-pala
* impi – from Zulu language meaning war, battle or a regiment
* indaba – from Xhosa or Zulu languages – 'stories' or 'news' typically conflated with 'meeting' (often used in South African English)
* isango – Zulu meaning gateway
* jumbo – from Swahili (jambo or jumbe or from Kongo nzamba "elephant")
* kalimba
* Kwanzaa – recent coinage (Maulana Karenga 1965) as the name of a "specifically African-American holiday", abstracted from a Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning "first fruits [of the harvest]".
* lapa – from Sotho languages – enclosure or barbecue area (often used in South African English)
* macaque – from Bantu makaku through Portuguese and French
* mamba – from Zulu or Swahili mamba
* marimba – from Bantu (Kimbundu and Swahili marimba, malimba)
* okapi – from a language in the Congo
* safari – from Swahili travel, ultimately from Arabic
* sangoma – from Zulu – traditional healer (often used in South African English)
* tilapia – Possibly a latinization "thiape", the Tswana word for fish.
* tsetse – from a Bantu language (Tswana tsetse, Luhya tsiisi)
* ubuntu – Nguni term for "mankind; humanity", in South Africa since the 1980s also used capitalized, Ubuntu, as the name of a philosophy or ideology of "human kindness" or "humanism".
* vuvuzela – musical instrument, name of Zulu or Nguni origin
* zebra – of unknown origin, recorded since c. 1600, possibly from a Congolese language, or alternatively from Amharic.
* zombie – likely from West African (compare Kikongo zumbi "fetish", Kimbundu nzambi "god")

## Non-Bantu West African origin

* azawakh - probably from Fula or Tuareg. A breed of dogs from West and North Africa
* banana – West African, possibly Wolof banana
* bongo – West African boungu
* buckra – "white man or person", from Efik and Ibibio mbakara
* chigger – possibly from Wolof and/or Yoruba jiga "insect"
* cola – from West African languages (Temne kola, Mandinka kolo)
* djembe – from West African languages
* jazz – from West African languages (Mandinka jasi, Temne yas)
* jive – possibly from Wolof jev
* juke, jukebox – possibly from Wolof and Bambara dzug through Gullah
* kwashiorkor – from Ga language, Coastal Ghana meaning "swollen stomach"
* Marímbula, plucked musical instrument (lamellophone) of the Caribbean islands
* merengue (dance) possibly from Fulani mererek i meaning to shake or quiver
* mumbo jumbo – from Mandingo name Maamajombo, a masked dancer
* mojo – from Kongo “moyo” meaning “spirit”
* obeah – from West African (Efik ubio, Twi ebayifo)
* okra – from Igbo ókùrù
* sambo – Fula sambo meaning "uncle"
* tango – probably from Ibibio tamgu
* tote – West African via Gullah
* vodou – from West African languages (Ewe and Fon vodu "spirit")
* yam – West African (Fula nyami, Twi anyinam)