toyi-toyi

English

Etymology

Seemingly from Northern Ndebele [Term?], but the ultimate origin is unclear.

Noun

toyi-toyi (plural toyi-toyis)

1. (South Africa, Zimbabwe) A dance from southern Africa, used especially during political protests.

Verb

toyi-toyi (third-person singular simple present toyi-toyis, present participle toyi-toying, simple past and past participle toyi-toyied)

1. (South Africa, Zimbabwe) To perform this dance.
   • 2012, Nadine Gordimer, No Time Like the Present, Bloomsbury, published 2013, page 30:

     [H]e stood with his back against the chanting, toyi-toying boys, arms outstretched as a shield before them: the sergeant strangely distracted by the old authority enacted the same stance, but to hold his men back.

   • 2017, Matthew Hahn, The Robben Island Shakespeare:

     They are kids who get caught up in the excitement, hysteria of the period. You know, toyi-toying and hurling stones, and they are arrested and sentenced to a minimum five years on Robben Island.