mbao
noun
twenty shillings.
Mbao names an amount of twenty shillings in Sheng.
Origins
Sh20 was pegged to the British pound in the 1970s Kenyan shilling system, and Kikuyu speakers’ rendering of “pound” as mbau/mbauni became mbao.
Sources4
Fridah Erastus Kanana and Atemo Christine Ny’onga, Lexical restructuring processes in Sheng among the Matatu crew in Nakuru, Kenya (2019), Nakuru study; discussion and Table 14.
A twenty-shilling coin, recorded in Sheng among matatu crews in Nakuru, Kenya.
Annah Wanjiru Kariuki, An investigation into the adoption and use of Sheng for advertising and public awareness among profit and nonprofit organisations in Nairobi, Kenya, 63.
In the Nairobi Sheng advertising example weka mbao, mbao refers to twenty shillings.
- mbao (Wiktionary)
Notes mbao is apparently from “pound” because 20 shillings equaled one pound when the note was introduced, via the Kikuyu rendering of “pound.”
- 10 old skul slang names for money (The Standard)
States Sh20 was called Mbau/Mbauni because it equaled the British pound in the 1970s, a Kikuyu-derived term.
Examples
Nina mbao hapa.
I have twenty shillings here.
Una mbao?
Do you have twenty shillings?
Nahitaji mbao ya nauli.
I need twenty shillings for the fare.
Nauli ni mbao.
The fare is twenty shillings.
Nimepata mbao.
I have found twenty shillings.
Nimeweka mbao hapa.
I have put twenty shillings here.
Nipe mbao, tafadhali.
Give me twenty shillings, please.
Chukua mbao.
Take twenty shillings.
Nimeleta mbao.
I have brought twenty shillings.
