Sheng
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A Chinese wind instrument, a free-reed mouth organ consisting of 13 or more bamboo pipes of various lengths, which are fixed at their bases in a wind chest made from a dried gourd (or, more recently, wood or chrome-plated brass).
"The appearance of a sheng in Paris at the end of the eighteenth century inspired the development of free reed instruments in Western Europe, including the harmonica, accordion, and symphonium (see next page)."
- 1 A Kenyan cant based on Swahili and English.
"English and Kiswahili might be Kenya’s official languages, but pupils tumbling out of school and students in the university canteens chatter to each other in Sheng, to their teachers’ despair. A witty, cheeky, freewheeling Clockwork Orange-style brew of Kiswahili, English and indigenous Kenyan languages, with added dollops of reggae jargon, American slang, French and Spanish, Sheng originated in Nairobi’s Eastlands slums in the 1980s."
Example
More examples"The appearance of a sheng in Paris at the end of the eighteenth century inspired the development of free reed instruments in Western Europe, including the harmonica, accordion, and symphonium (see next page)."
Etymology
From Mandarin 笙 (shēng).
Blend of Swahili + English.
Related phrases
More for "sheng"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.