bongo

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈbɒŋ.ɡəʊ/

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

  • Rhymes: -ɒŋɡəʊ
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈbɑŋ.ɡoʊ/
  • Rhymes: -ɑŋɡoʊ

From Spanish bongo.

bongo (plural bongos)

1. A striped bovine mammal found in Africa, Tragelaphus eurycerus.

From United States Spanish bongó, from a Bantu language; probably Ekele boungu.

bongo (plural bongos or bongoes)

1. Either of a pair of small drums of Cuban origin, played by beating with the hands.
   • 1984, Dire Straits (band), Money for Nothing (song)

     He's banging on the bongos like a chimpanzee.

   Synonym: bongo drum

bongo (third-person singular simple present bongos, present participle bongoing, simple past and past participle bongoed)

1. (intransitive) To play the bongo drums.
2. (intransitive) Of the heart, etc.: to beat with an irregular rhythm.
3. (transitive) To hit something rhythmically with the hands.

• bingo bango bongo
• Bongo Bongo Land
• bongo mag

• bogon, boong

bongo

1. thus, so, this way

Likely borrowed from English bongo, from Spanish bongó, probably of onomatopoeic origin.

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔŋ.ɡoː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: bon‧go

bongo m (plural bongo's, no diminutive)

1. (music) a bongo (small Cuban drum used in pairs)

• IPA^(key): /ˈboŋːo/, [ˈbo̞ŋːo̞]
• Rhymes: -oŋːo
• Syllabification^(key): bon‧go
• Hyphenation^(key): bon‧go

From Spanish bongo.

bongo

1. bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus, syn. Taurotragus euryceros)

   Bongo ei toistaiseksi ole uhanalainen vaikka on monilla alueilla harvinaistunut tai hävinnyt.

   The bongo is not currently vulnerable or endangered, even if it can no longer be found in some places, at least in the same numbers.

From English bongo, from American Spanish bongó.

bongo

1. (music) bongo

   Bongoja soitetaan myös Lähi-idässä, Turkissa ja arabimaissa.

   Bongos are also used as an instrument in the Middle East, Turkey and Arab countries.

• “bongo”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[1] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 1 July 2023

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

bongo f (plural bongos)

1. bongo

Probably of Bantu origin

bongo m (plural bongos)

1. bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus)

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɔn.ɡo/
• Rhymes: -ɔnɡo
• Hyphenation: bòn‧go

Probably of Bantu origin.

bongo m (plural bonghi)

1. bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus)

From American Spanish bongó.

bongo m (plural bonghi)

1. bongo (Afro-Cuban percussion instrument)

• bongo in Treccani.it – Vocabolario Treccani on line, Istituto dell'Enciclopedia Italiana

bongo

1. Rōmaji transcription of ぼんご

Borrowed from Bangi bongo.

bongo

1. thus, so, this way

Borrowed from Swahili bongo.

bongo

1. (anatomy) brain

bongo

1. genitive singular of bongas (“bong”)

• Hyphenation: bon‧go

Probably of Bantu origin

bongo m (plural bongos)

1. bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus, an African antelope)

From Spanish bongó.

bongo m (plural bongos) (European Portuguese spelling)

1. alternative form of bongô

   Alternative forms: (European Portuguese spelling) bongó, (Brazilian Portuguese spelling) bongô

• “bongo”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

bongo (feminine bongi, plural bonge)

1. left

   Synonym: stungo

   Antonym: ćaćo

bongô

1. skull

Probably of Bantu origin

• IPA^(key): /ˈbonɡo/ [ˈbõŋ.ɡo]
• Rhymes: -onɡo
• Syllabification: bon‧go

bongo m (plural bongos)

1. bongo (Tragelaphus eurycerus)

From a Native American word.

bongo m (plural bongos)

1. large canoe

• English: bungo

• “bongo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “or *bòngó? See variant 274 of BLR entry 3571. We should add the variant to the PB page”) Inherited from Proto-Bantu *bʊ̀jòngó.

• Audio (Kenya):

  (file)

bongo class V (plural mabongo class VI)

1. (anatomy) brain
2. brains (mental faculties)

• ubongo

• IPA^(key): [ˈbo.ŋo]

bongo

1. a side

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001), A descriptive study of the language of Ternate, the northern Moluccas, Indonesia, University of Pittsburgh