skabenga

S1K5A1B3E1N1G2A1

noun

A gangster or thug.

OriginZulu isígebéng ← Proto-Bantu *kɪ́-kɪ̀- →
Scrabble 15
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Meanings

nounskabenga (plural skabengas)

plural skabengas · alternative skebenga

  1. South AfricaderogatoryslangA gangster or thug.

    "I mean that it went bankrupt, and the bank took the building away," replied the guard. "I am left here to keep skebengas and the homeless out, but there is nobody inside."

    2012, Kieran O'Neill, “Bicycleman Sakhile and the Cell Tower”, in John Michael Greer, editor, After Oil: SF Visions of a Post-Petroleum World, Founders House Publishing, →ISBN, page 66

Origin

  1. Proto-Bantu*kɪ́-
  2. Proto-Bantu*kɪ̀-
  3. Proto-Bantu*kɪ́-kɪ̀-
  4. Zuluísi-
  5. Zuluisígebéng
  6. Englishskabenga

Borrowed from Zulu isígebéngu (“bandit, criminal, gangster”).

More words from Zulu

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

skabenga. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/skabenga

MLA

“skabenga.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/skabenga. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “skabenga,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/skabenga.

Source: skabenga on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.