Meaning of Sheng | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A Chinese wind instrument, a free-reed mouth organ consisting of 13 or more bamboo pipes of various lengths, which are fixed at their bases in a wind chest made from a dried gourd (or, more recently, wood or chrome-plated brass).
2. A Kenyan cant based on Swahili and English.

Equivalents

Examples

“The appearance of a sheng in Paris at the end of the eighteenth century inspired the development of free reed instruments in Western Europe, including the harmonica, accordion, and symphonium (see next page).”

“English and Kiswahili might be Kenya’s official languages, but pupils tumbling out of school and students in the university canteens chatter to each other in Sheng, to their teachers’ despair. A witty, cheeky, freewheeling Clockwork Orange-style brew of Kiswahili, English and indigenous Kenyan languages, with added dollops of reggae jargon, American slang, French and Spanish, Sheng originated in Nairobi’s Eastlands slums in the 1980s.”

CEFR level