Ibhayi,noun
/iˈbaːji/
- Forms:
- AlsoeBhayi /e-/.
- Origin:
- IsiXhosa, AfrikaansShow moreIsiXhosaiBhayi (locative formeBhayi) adaptation of Afrikaansdie Baai ‘the Bay’ (seeBaai).
Especially among isiXhosa-speakers,a name for the city of Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha); a collective name for the Black townships in and around that city. Alsoattributive.See alsoPE.
1982Voice 21 Mar. 5Plague hits eBhayi...Bubonic plague has broken out in a Black settlement at Coega, about 32 km from Port Elizabeth.
1986E. Prov. Herald 7 Oct. 6The security forces may..re-introduce the notorious ‘dompas’ in a different form (as they admit to doing in Ibhayi).
1990T. Daniels inNew African 27 Aug. 2Port Elizabeth..township residents are holding their breath as thousands of wooden houses are mushrooming...The Ibhayi City Council, which administers the townships, seems to be unable to stem the tide.
1993F. Frescura inWeekly Mail & Guardian 29 Oct. 12Most Afrikaners refer to Port Elizabeth as Die Baai — and black people call it iBhayi, which means the same thing: the bay.
a name for the city of Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha); a collective name for the Black townships in and around that city. Alsoattributive.
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"Ibhayi, n."Dictionary of South African English.Dictionary Unit for South African English, 2025. Web. 27 November 2025.
Dictionary of South African English, s.v. "Ibhayi, n." accessed November 27, 2025,https://dsae.co.za/entry/Ibhayi/e03153.
Ibhayi, n. (2025). InDictionary of South African English.Retrieved fromhttps://dsae.co.za/entry/Ibhayi/e03153
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