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donga

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donga¹

  • /ˈdɔŋɡə/ US
  • /ˈdɒŋɡə/ UK

Where it comes from

Borrowed from Afrikaans donga, borrowed from Zulu ū́dongá, from Proto-Bantu *mʊ̀dòngà.

noun dongas

  1. South Africa A usually dry, eroded watercourse running only in times of heavy rain. Major Pack-Beresford and other officers were shot down, and every unhorsed man remained necessarily as a prisoner under the very muzzles of the riflemen in the donga.

    Similar: arroyo, wadi, wash

donga²

  • /dɔŋə/ Australia

Where it comes from

Unknown; probably connected in some way with Etymology 1.

noun dongas

  1. Australia A transportable building providing accommodation for one person, often used on remote work sites or as tourist accommodation. Menzies Hotel ([Ph] 9024 2043; 22 Shenton St; s/d $48/65, donga $75) has old-style hotel rooms as well as - for that real goldfields experience - dongas (temporary miner′s abode, usually made from corrugated iron), and also serves all meals.

donga³

noun dongas

  1. alternative Alternative spelling of donger (“penis”).

Translations

Every language

noun dry, eroded watercourse

DeutschDonga

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Cite this
MLA

"donga." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/donga. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

donga. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/donga

Chicago

"donga." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/donga.

BibTeX
@misc{donga_2026,
  title = {donga},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/donga},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}