Join free

pongo

English · Español · Français · Italiano · Português

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

pongo¹

Where it comes from

From Kongo mpongo (“gorilla”).

noun pongos · pongoes

  1. UK, slang A soldier.
  2. UK, slang A lazy, good-for-nothing person.
  3. archaic Any large ape. […] asserts, that the apes called pongos, "kill many negroes that travel in the woods." […] [Regarding] pongos belabouring [i.e. beating] elephants, [he adds] that "a pongo ape carried off a young negro, […]"

pongo²

Where it comes from

From Peruvian Spanish [Term?], thought to be from Quechua puncu/punku or Aymara ponco "door, gate". Semantically, compare puerta.

noun pongos

  1. A river canyon or gorge in Peru, especially a narrow, deep one cutting through a ridge or mountain range, carved by an Andean river. The result is again clearly shown in the topography of the valley wall which becomes bold, inclosing the river in narrow "pongos" or canyons filled with huge bowlders^([sic]) and dangerous rapids.

Talk about this word

Cite this
MLA

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

APA

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

Chicago

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

BibTeX
@misc{pongo_2026,
  title = {pongo},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/pongo},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}