‘Yoh’, ‘gatvol’ and ‘sharp-sharp’ are just some South African words and terms that have graduated from slang terms to join the Oxford English Dictionary!
Global (26 March 2025) — For years, South Africans have had to fight slanted eyebrows and confused expressions every time we drop words and terms like ‘yoh’, ‘gatvol’ or ‘sharp-sharp’ around someone who isn’t local.
Then, of course, comes the long-winded explanation we attempt to deliver, explaining why ‘yoh’ can be a good reaction, a bad reaction, or a good and bad reaction depending on the delivery.
However, thanks to the Oxford English Dictionary’s latest update, South Africans can now say ‘look it up in the dictionary’ the next time someone doesn’t understand what we mean. The dictionary has officially added several South African words and terms to its pages along with their suspected origins and definitions.
‘Yoh’: An interjection, ‘yoh’ was traced to 1855 as an imitative utterance likely after the Afrikaans ‘jo’ and Xhosa ‘yho or yo’. Meaning: ‘Yoh’ in South African English is a cry or exclamation used to express various emotions or reactions, such as surprise, wonder, admiration, shock, or distress.
‘Gatvol’: The term’s earliest evidence dates to 1980 and is a way of expressing disdain. Meaning: Describing a person who has had enough; one who is extremely annoyed, unhappy, or bored, especially with a state of affairs that has persisted for a long time.
‘The hell-in’: A colloquial phrase, ‘the hell-in’ has been traced back to 1966, modelled after the Afrikaans phrase ‘die hel in’, which literally translates to ‘in the hell’. The OED explains that in Afrikaans, it is grammatical for the preposition in to be in the final position, hence the syntactic characteristic that was borrowed into English. Meaning: Used predicatively to talk about someone who is furious or fed up.
‘Tjoekie’: Another colloquial term, this word made its way to South Africa thanks to English-speaking immigrants from India; it is related to an earlier slang term for ‘jail’ through chokey, a variant of chowki which traced its roots to Hindi and ultimately Sanskrit. However, it made its way into South African English via Afrikaans! Meaning: A colloquial term for prison or jail.
‘Makarapa’: Hailing from 1999, ‘makarapa’ is believed to come from a Bantu language, though the exact donor language is not known as yet. Meaning: Originally, ‘makarapa’ meant a hard hat worn by a miner or construction worker. However, it is now used by sports fans (especially football/soccer fans) who paint and decorate these hats to support their favourite teams.
‘Seshweshwe’ and ‘Shweshwe’: Traced back to 1956 and 1973 respectively, these are borrowings from Southern Sotho. Meaning: These words refer to a type of printed cotton fabric, originally dyed with indigo by now available in various colours featuring intricate (usually geometric) patterns that are typically used for traditional Southern African clothes or accessories.
‘Sharp-sharp’: Followed back to 1991, the casual term we all know so well has multiple uses. Meaning: ‘sharp-sharp’ is a way to greet, say goodbye or express gratitude casually. It is also a way to compliment someone and comment on how generally fantastic they are (2018).
‘Zol’: The origin for zol is unknown, but it’s meaning is well known in Mzansi. Meaning: ‘Zol’ is a colloquial term for marijuana, but also for a hand-rolled cigarette (rollie) containing marijuana.
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