Standard Lemma guide

sengi

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsɛŋɡi/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈsɛŋɡi/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /-ɡiː/
  • General-American: /ˈsɛŋɡi/

1

noun

Meaning 1

Any of several small, insectivorous long-nosed mammals, of the family Macroscelididae within the Macroscelidea order, native to Africa.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

A former (1967–1993) monetary unit of Zaire, one hundredth of a likuta, and one ten-thousandth of a zaire; it was issued only in ten sengi coins.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: historical

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Swahili sengi, probably from another Bantu language (compare Giryama sanje).

PIE word *pénkwe Borrowed from Kongo sengi, senki, from French cinq (“five”) (in the sense of five sous). Doublet of cinque, fin (“five currency units”), finnuf, five, pimp (“five”), ponzu, and punch (“beverage”).

Across languages

Translations

45 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: klaasneus — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Belarusian: слановыя землярыйкі (slanóvyja zjemljaryjki) — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Bulgarian: слонска земеровка (slonska zemerovka) — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Catalan: musaranya elefant — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Chinese Mandarin: 象鼩 (xiàngqú) — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Czech: bércoun — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Danish: springspidsmus — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Danish: elefantspringmus — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Dutch: springspitsmuis — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Finnish: kuonokas — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Finnish: hyppypäästäinen — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • French: musaraigne à trompe — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Galician: macroscelídeo — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Georgian: ხტუნიასებრნი (xṭuniasebrni) — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • German: Rüsselspringer — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Hungarian: elefántcickány-félék — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Indonesian: celurut gajah — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Indonesian: celurut lompat — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Italian: toporagno elefante — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Japanese: 跳地鼠 (hanejinezumi) — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Kazakh: секіргіштер (sekırgışter) — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Korean: 코끼리땃쥐 (kokkirittatjwi) — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Maltese: senġi — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Norwegian Bokmål: springspissmus — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Norwegian Bokmål: elefantspissmus — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: springspissmus — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Norwegian Nynorsk: elefantspissmus — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Polish: ryjkonos — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Polish: długouszek — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Polish: ryjoskoczek — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Portuguese: macroscelídeo — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Portuguese: musaranho-elefante — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Romanian: șoarece elefant — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Russian: слоновые землеройки (slonovyje zemlerojki) — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Russian: слоно́вая землеро́йка (slonóvaja zemlerójka) — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Spanish: musaraña elefante — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Swahili: sengi — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Swedish: springnäbbmöss — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Thai: หนูผีช้าง (nǔu-pǐi cháang) — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Turkish: fil faresi — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Vietnamese: chuột chù voi — Any member of the order Macroscelidea
  • Finnish: sengi — former monetary unit of Zaire
  • Kongo: sengi — former monetary unit of Zaire
  • Kongo: senki — former monetary unit of Zaire
  • Polish: sengi — former monetary unit of Zaire