niiko

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Somali niiko.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈniːkəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈnikoʊ/
• Rhymes: -iːkəʊ
• Hyphenation: nii‧ko

Noun

niiko (uncountable)

1. A folk dance from southern Somalia similar to twerking which is generally performed by women.
   • 2015 August 24, Sadia Ahmed, Fatuma Abdulahi, “An insider’s guide to Mogadishu: ‘There’s no life without peace’”, in The Guardian‎^[1], archived from the original on 2023-10-14:

     After decades of war Mogadishu is tentatively relaxing. From sourdough pancakes to traditional bum-shaking Niiko dance and political hip-hop, […] Xamar has a local dance called Niiko, which is the rhythmic shaking of the bum synchronized with drums.

   • 2018 August 27, Giulia Liberatore, Somali, Muslim, British: Striving in Securitized Britain, Routledge, →ISBN, page 71:

     Niiko dancing was one of several dimensions of Somali culture that she had actively embraced and enjoyed celebrating and displaying to others. […] Niiko was a part of her Somali culture and whether it conflicted or not with religion was not a concern for her at that point in time. Interestingly, Niiko is a dance that the majority of first-generation Somalis associate with the minority Bantu, […]