Etymology

mokele-mbembe

Today it means: A large water-dwelling cryptid described in legends of the Congo River basin. Full definition →

Lingala mokɛle-mbɛmbe
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The story

  1. Lingala · borrowed frommokɛle-mbɛmbe
  2. English todaymokele-mbembe

From Lingala mokɛle-mbɛmbe, possibly meaning "one who stops the flow of rivers", or "rainbow".

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.