jirongo
noun
a five-hundred-shilling note.
Jirongo names a five-hundred-Kenyan-shilling note.
Origins
The nickname is associated with Cyrus Jirongo and Youth for KANU (YK ’92) during the 1992 campaign period, when the five-hundred-shilling note circulated widely.
Melita Ole Tenges, Cyrus Jirongo: The rise, fall and enduring legacy of YK ’92 power broker (2025), Article.
Reports that the newly introduced five-hundred-shilling note took the nickname during the 1992 campaign period.
Nathan Oyori Ogechi, On Lexicalization in Sheng (2005), p. 342.
Attests the five-hundred-shilling note sense in the body text; a footnote on the same page instead reports a thousand-shilling note.
Examples
Nina jirongo hapa.
I have a five-hundred-shilling note here.
Una jirongo?
Do you have a five-hundred-shilling note?
Nahitaji jirongo ya nauli.
I need a five-hundred-shilling note for the fare.
Nimelipa kwa jirongo.
I have paid with a five-hundred-shilling note.
Nimepata jirongo.
I have found a five-hundred-shilling note.
Nimeweka jirongo hapa.
I have put a five-hundred-shilling note here.
Nipe jirongo, tafadhali.
Give me a five-hundred-shilling note, please.
Chukua jirongo.
Take a five-hundred-shilling note.
Nimeleta jirongo.
I have brought a five-hundred-shilling note.
