Nigerian slang mixes English, Nigerian Pidgin and words from Yoruba, Igbo, Hausa, Edo and other languages, which is why a normal sentence can sound like “Abeg, no wahala, send your aza.” With Afrobeats, Nollywood and Nigerian Twitter reaching a global audience, these words now turn up far beyond Nigeria. Here are the ones you’re most likely to meet, each with its own entry.

Everyday words

• Abeg: please, from “I beg.”
• Wahala: trouble, problems. “No wahala” means no problem.
• Gist: gossip or a good chat; “to gist” is to chat.
• Ehen: “I see,” “exactly,” “go on.”

Money and moving

• Sapa: being broke.
• Aza: a bank account number.
• Japa: to leave Nigeria for a better life abroad.
• IJGB: “I just got back,” for returnees from abroad.

The end of the year

• Ember months: September to December, the months ending in “-ber.”
• Detty December: the end-of-year party season in Nigeria and Ghana.

People

• Aproko: a busybody, or the gossip they spread.
• Dundee United: a fool, named after a Scottish football club.

Where the words come from

Nigerian Pidgin, also called Naijá, is an English-based creole that works as a common language across Nigeria’s many language groups. A lot of its slang comes from those languages: japa from Yoruba, aza from Edo, and wahala through Yoruba from Hausa, which took it from Arabic. Some words are English with a Nigerian twist, like gist, which means gossip rather than “the main point.” In January 2026, Nigerian newspapers reported that the Oxford English Dictionary had added abeg and other Nigerian words.

For more, see our world slang guide, South African slang, British slang, or the full A–Z index.