impimpi
South African slang — particularly from township and resistance culture — for a police informer or snitch.
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Born ~2005 · no dated citations yetDefinitions
South African slang — particularly from township and resistance culture — for a police informer or snitch. During the apartheid era, calling someone an impimpi was a serious and sometimes dangerous accusation. The word carries the weight of that history: betrayal, survival, collaboration with oppressive authority. In modern South African slang it still means a snitch, but the original political charge has faded somewhat for younger speakers.
Nobody trusted him after the raid — everyone suspected he was an impimpi who had tipped off the police.
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(South Africa) A police informer.
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