Meanings
- uncountableA dance rhythm from the Congo (DRC), where the hips move back and forth while the hands move to follow the hips.
Civic spaces for youth like the kwassa kwassa dance classes are often talked about in the township within frames like morality and health.
2019, Barbara Heer, Cities of Entanglements, page 71 - uncountableA traditional flat-bottomed, wooden fishing boat used primarily in the Republic of the Congo and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (so called because it is "very shaky").
The large majority of Comorian migrants arrive by sea in small boats known as kwassa kwassa named after the swaying Congolese dance rhythm.
2016, Rino Coluccello, Simon Massey ·, Eurafrican Migration1 more example
Day after day, never-ending human tragedies are played out as people risk their lives trying to reach Mayotte in overloaded, rickety kwassa-kwassa boats to see family members, place their children in school, visit a health center, sell products on the market or find an odd job.
2015, Tor Sellström, Africa in the Indian Ocean: Islands in Ebb and Flow, page 318
Origin
- Frenchquoi ça?“what is it?”
- Englishkwassa kwassa
Perhaps from the French quoi ça? (“what is it?”).
More words from French
Full word history & related roots →Translations
French kwasa kwasa
- kwasa kwasadance rhythm
Cite this entry
kwassa kwassa. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kwassa%20kwassa
“kwassa kwassa.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kwassa%20kwassa. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kwassa kwassa,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kwassa%20kwassa.
Source: kwassa kwassa on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.