sjambok

[sham-bok, -buhk]

noun

1. (in southern Africa) a heavy whip, usually of rhinoceros hide.

verb (used with object)

1. to whip with or as if with such a whip.

sjambok

/ -bɒk, ˈʃæmbʌk /

noun

1. a heavy whip of rhinoceros or hippopotamus hide

2. a stiff synthetic version of this, used in crowd control

verb

1. (tr) to strike or beat with such a whip

Word History and Origins

Origin of sjambok¹

1820–30; < Afrikaans s ( j ) ambok < Malay cambuk whip < Hindi cābuk

Word History and Origins

Origin of sjambok¹

C19: from Afrikaans, from Malay samboq, chamboq, from Urdu chābuk

Example Sentences

A truer picture of Zimbabwean politics might be the deep red and black welts and rips in the skin visible across Nhende’s back and lower legs, the result of a lashing with a heavy sjambok whip, his lawyers said.

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A sjambok is a whip usually made of leather.

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“They beat me and my wife with a sjambok in front of our kids, saying we were part of the riots,” he said.

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He caught the cat and—live on TV—he kicked it and stomped it and beat it to death with a sjambok, a hard leather whip.

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A second man from another Harare township said he was also beaten by soldiers Thursday night, including with a leather whip locally known as a sjambok.

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