danfo

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Yoruba dáńfó.

Noun

danfo (plural danfos)

1. (Nigeria) A privately-owned minibus or van hired to carry passengers.
   • 2010, Love P. Maya, Off The Village Mat, →ISBN, page 75:

     "You crazy? Look where you day go, you bloody fool!" the man screamed at me as he shoved me into the path of a danfo which barely missed me. The bus conductor, who was standing on the steps of the danfo, leaned over, struck me on the side of my head, and gave me another shove that sent me back on the sidewalk into a final collision course with yet another pedestrian.

   • 2011, Emeke Obi, Bond of Three, →ISBN, page 123:

     Daring the consequence and to maintain his earlier position ahead of Adekunle, the danfo driver could have gone ahead to attempt hitting Adekunle's car. Danfo bus drivers often behaved that way.

   • 2015, Tade Thompson, Making Wolf, →ISBN:

     Danfo were classier and more expensive than bolekaja. Almost every danfo was painted yellow and on the side of the driver's door, in black, was “driver and 2 passengers.”

   • 2016, Leopoldo Gout, Genius: The Game, →ISBN, page 82:

     The bus ride to the city was another three hours. It would likely have just been two had not the danfo broken down twice.

   • 2017, Arnd Schneider, Alternative Art and Anthropology: Global Encounters, →ISBN, page 39:

     Ogboh has also focused critical attention on the familiar avatars of Lagos in popular imagination as visual signifiers that also drive its soundscapes, such as the ubiquitous yellow commercial kombi buses, popularly called danfo. The typical danfo is a VW transporter bus, painted in cadmium yellow with two black stripes.

Anagrams

• Fonda, NAFOD, fonda