mongo

Unknown

mongo (uncountable)

1. (New York City) Still-usable things salvaged (by sanmen) from garbage. [since the 1970s or 80s]
   • 1984, [NYC] Issue 1-6, page 51:

     The old room was furnished in "mongo," Sanit lingo for stuff picked out of the garbage. Mongo-picking, Ukeles explained, "is against the law. The garbage belongs to the City. But until a recent rehabilitation program, which is the first since the Depression, the Sanmen never had their own furnishings.” Prior to the show, the Sanmen voted on the worst facilities in the system and Ukeles selected the exhibition mongo from them—shabby, broken-down furniture, walls cluttered with cheap […]

   • 2006, Fine Books & Collections, volume 4, page 56, reviewing MONGO: Adventures in Trash by Ted Botha (2004):

     [Mongo] refers to trash, or more specifically, to treasure found in trash: books, artifacts, furniture, even food. Ted Botha's book explores a whole culture, and various subcultures, that revolve around mongo. Those obsessed with mongo often live on the margins, […]

   • 2013, Robin Nagle, Picking Up: On the Streets and Behind the Trucks, →ISBN:

     Loading out on house-to-house can take many hours, but such routes have other perks, especially for someone who likes to mongo. As a noun, “mongo” is Sanitation slang for treasure salvaged from the trash, with an understanding that the definition of “treasure” is both broad and personal. As a verb, “to mongo” is to look for and rescue such wealth. Sal Federici didn't mongo, but he tolerated his partner's predilection for it. Ray Kurtz was not the district's acknowledged mongo king, […]

• Cassell's Dictionary of Slang

mongo (plural mongos)

1. Clipping of mongoloid.

Borrowed from Spanish mungo. Compare Tagalog monggo / munggo.

mongo (uncountable)

1. (Philippines) mung bean

• moong

mongo

1. to eat

Ultimately from Mongolian мөнгө (möngö).

• IPA^(key): /ˈmoŋːo/, [ˈmo̞ŋːo̞]
• Rhymes: -oŋːo
• Syllabification^(key): mon‧go

mongo

1. möngö (one 100th of tugrik, the currency of Mongolia)

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔn.ɡo/
• Rhymes: -ɔnɡo
• Hyphenation: mòn‧go

Borrowed from Mongolian мөнгө (möngö).

mongo m (invariable)

1. möngö (one hundredth of a tugrik)

Probably of Bantu origin.

mongo (invariable)

1. of or pertaining to the Mongo people

mongo m or f by sense (invariable)

1. one who is part of the Mongo people

mongo m (uncountable)

1. Mongo (Bantu language)

• mongo in Dizionario Italiano Olivetti, Olivetti Media Communication

• gnomo

Clipping of mongoloide.

• Hyphenation: mon‧go

mongo m (plural mongos, feminine monga, feminine plural mongas)

1. (slang) idiot

mongo (feminine monga, masculine plural mongos, feminine plural mongas)

1. (slang, derogatory) idiot; fool; retarded

Borrowed from German Mongo.

mongo m (plural mongos)

1. möngö

• mongo in Academia Română, Micul dicționar academic, ediția a II-a, Bucharest: Univers Enciclopedic, 2010. →ISBN

• IPA^(key): /ˈmonɡo/ [ˈmõŋ.ɡo]
• Rhymes: -onɡo
• Syllabification: mon‧go

mongo m (plural mongos, feminine monga, feminine plural mongas)

1. (colloquial, Chile, Cuba) idiot

mongo (feminine monga, masculine plural mongos, feminine plural mongas)

1. (colloquial, Chile, Cuba) idiotic

   Synonyms: tonto, necio

• “mongo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014

Clipping of mongoloid. Compare German Mongo.

• IPA^(key): /ˈmɔŋɡʊ/
• Rhymes: -¹ɔŋɡʊ
• Hyphenation: mon‧go

mongo n

1. (slang, offensive) a person with Down's syndrome (or often a (congenital and) clearly noticeable disorder more generally)
2. (slang, possibly offensive) an idiot and/or weirdo

   Synonyms: cp, idiot

Less associated with its etymology compared to cp and consequently less likely to offend in (sense 2) (though cp is often fairly detached from its etymology as well).

• kioskmongo

mongo (comparative mer mongo, superlative mest mongo)

1. (slang) idiotic, stupid