Rising and fading Sheng

Sheng words don't last forever. Some spread fast, some slowly drop out of use. Each word on this site carries one of four marks.

• Rising: new and spreading
• In use: said every day
• Fading: heard less and less
• Old school: from the 80s, 90s and 2000s

Rising

• Wantam one term
• Bag ni ya nini what's the bag for?
• Alele mtoto chant from the song 'Kitemeo'
• Tutam two terms
• Alele miraa, khat
• Kubant to lose, to get stuck
• Kumi na nne supuu top quality, the best
• Aroo hey, I'm here
• Mafurumbanya curvy woman

Fading

• Sipangwingwi nobody tells me what to do
• Odijo teacher

How we decide: an editor sets each mark from when the word first appeared and how often people look it up here. As more people use the site, we will add charts for each word.