yab

English

Etymology

From yap.

Verb

yab (third-person singular simple present yabs, present participle yabbing, simple past and past participle yabbed)

1. (Nigeria, transitive, intransitive) To satirize or roast; to abuse verbally.
   • 1974, Afriscope, volume 4, numbers 1-6, page 42:

     But in between the bouts of light-hearted yabbing Fela began to insert serious political challenges. He attacked prevalent attitudes towards self determination which he abhorred. He stated that black people were being robbed.

Related terms

• yabbi

Afar

Etymology

From yaabé (“to talk, speak”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈjab/, [ˈjʌb]
• Hyphenation: yab

Noun

yáb m (plural yaaboobá f)

1. conversation
2. insult or shame somebody
3. news, information
4. (sociolinguistics) dialect

Declension

Declension of yáb
absolutive	yáb
predicative	yáaba
subjective	yáb
genitive	yabtí
Postpositioned forms l-case yáabal k-case yáabak t-case yáabat h-case yáabah

Verb

yáb

1. imperative singular of yaabé

References

• E. M. Parker, R. J. Hayward (1985) “yab”, in An Afar-English-French dictionary (with Grammatical Notes in English), University of London, →ISBN
• Mohamed Hassan Kamil (2015) L’afar: description grammaticale d’une langue couchitique (Djibouti, Erythrée et Ethiopie)‎^[1], Paris: Université Sorbonne Paris Cité (doctoral thesis)