Lexifari DictionaryPreview

beshte

noun

friend; best friend.

Usually closer than a generic acquaintance: one of your people.

Origins

Beshte is a Sheng clipping of English “best friend,” adapted into a close-friend label.

Peter Githinji, Bazes and Their Shibboleths: Lexical Variation and Sheng Speakers’ Identity in Nairobi (Nordic Journal of African Studies, 2006), 455.
Identifies beshte as an English clipping of “best friend,” and mabeshte with the Swahili ma- plural.

Examples

Beshte yangu amefika.
My best friend has arrived.
Nitumie ujumbe, beshte.
Send me a message, bestie.
Beshte hupeana advice.
Best friends give advice.
Beshte, niko kwa gate.
Bestie, I am at the gate.
Nimekaa na beshte yangu jioni.
I sat with my best friend in the evening.
Beshte hunisaidia kila wakati.
My best friend helps me every time.
Huyo ni beshte wa childhood.
That is a childhood best friend.
Tuliachia beshte apumzike.
We left our best friend to rest.
Beshte yangu anajua secret.
My best friend knows the secret.