Meanings
- uncountableentertainmentA minimalistic style of house music from South Africa.
South African artists include rapper Sho Madjozi, gqom acts Rude Boyz, Dominowe and Phatstoki, and sgubhu producer Sleeping Buddah.
2018 September 4, “Lokodo: This ugly thing called Nyege Nyege not happening this year”, in Daily Monitor1 more example
Although gqom's early history is blurry, its originators generally agree that it first emerged from Durban around the start of the 2010s, recorded using pirated software, shared on social media and by mobile phone, and popularised by minibus-taxi drivers who blasted the sound to attract young passengers to ride with them.
2018, Matthew Collin, Rave On: Global Adventures in Electronic Dance Music, University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 202
Origin
Derived from an onomatopoeic combination of click consonants from the Zulu language, representing the sound of a drum.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
gqom. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gqom
“gqom.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gqom. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “gqom,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/gqom.
Source: gqom on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.