conga

For the dance:

• Borrowed from Spanish Congo (“Congo dance”), so-called for being of sub-Saharan African origin.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒŋɡə/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (US) enPR: kängʹgə, IPA^(key): /ˈkɑŋɡə/
• Rhymes: -ɒŋɡə
• Homophone: conger (non-rhotic)

conga (plural congas)

1. (music) A tall, narrow, single-headed Cuban hand drum of African origin.
2. (dance) A march of Cuban origin in four-four time in which people form a chain, each holding the hips of the person in front of them; in each bar, dancers take three shuffle steps and then kick alternate legs outwards at the beat; the chain weaves around the place and allows new participants to join the back of the chain. [from 1935]
   • 1979, John Storm Roberts, The Latin Tinge, New York: Oxford University Press, →ISBN, pages 81–82:

     The conga dance, with its long line that might eventually sweep in everybody in the place, and the kick on the fourth beat and the fruited headdress that were to become her trademarks.

• conga drum
• conga line

conga (third-person singular simple present congas, present participle congaing, simple past and past participle congaed)

1. To dance the conga.

• bunny hop

• conga on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• conga line on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• Cogan

Likely borrowed from English conga, from Spanish conga, from Congo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔŋ.ɡaː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: con‧ga

conga f (plural conga's)

1. (music) a conga (tall, narrow Cuban hand drum used in pairs)
2. (music, uncountable) Conga (Cuban march music and dance style)

• Audio:

  (file)

conga f (plural congas)

1. conga (dance)

• “conga”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• cogna

Borrowed from French conga.

conga f (uncountable)

1. conga (drum)
2. conga (dance)

• IPA^(key): /ˈkonɡa/ [ˈkõŋ.ɡa]
• Rhymes: -onɡa
• Syllabification: con‧ga

conga f (plural congas)

1. conga (dance)

• “conga”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 10 December 2024