Well attestedIndirect, via a person or title
okada
noun · first attested 1990s
Lagos motorcycle taxis are named after an airline, which was named after its founder's home town.
In Nigeria, a motorcycle taxi.
Record
- Relationship
- Indirect, via a person or title
- Confidence
- Well attestedThe place link is the standard scholarly account.
- Attested
- 1990s
- Part of speech
- noun
Explanations here are written for this atlas. Dictionary text is not copied; the sources are linked so the claim can be checked.
- Step 1
Okada
- In English
okada
Okada Air, founded by Gabriel Igbinedion and named for his home town of Okada in Edo State, was one of Nigeria's largest carriers in the 1980s and early 1990s. Riders weaving through Lagos traffic were nicknamed okada because, like the airline, they got people there on time. The airline stopped flying in the 1990s; the word outlived it and is now standard Nigerian English, despite repeated bans on the bikes in parts of Lagos.