Street
sha
What does sha mean?
Added to a sentence for emphasis, resignation, or to soften a statement — the closest single-word English equivalent shifts depending on context, from "anyway" to "though" to "still."
"Your market too cost, but I go buy am sha."
Origin
From Yoruba; documented as a Yoruba loanword functioning as an emphatic particle in the Wikipedia "Nigerian Pidgin" article and on naija.guru.
Frequently asked questions
What does "sha" mean in Pidgin?
It's a flexible intensifier meaning something like "anyway," "still," or "regardless," depending on context.
Where does "sha" come from?
It comes from Yoruba and was adopted into everyday Nigerian Pidgin speech.
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