Berbere - A spicy powder made by crushing dried red peppers (usually by hand, with a mortar and pestle). It’s used to season most Ethiopian food.
Birr - the currency of Ethiopia
Buna - Coffee, the national drink of Ethiopia.
Firenji - Foreigner
Gobez/Cimtuu - Clever! Used as an all-purpose form of praise.
Habesha - Ethiopian
Injera/Bideena - A spongy, sour, flat bread on which most Ethiopian food is served.
Ni Mi’aawaa - It’s delicious!
Nutella - A traditional Ethiopian scarf, made of gauzy white (or sometimes blue) cotton, with a colorful band on either end.
Saft - toilet paper
Shayyee - Tea, often spiced and sweetened.
Shint Bayt - latrine
Tabaduu! - Let’s talk! Although this is a sentence rarely uttered in the English language, it’s fairly common for Ethiopians to instruct you to converse, then give you no help or topics suggestions.
T’ibs - Meat (usually sheep) sauteed in oil, with onions and spicy peppers. If you don’t explode that T, people will think you’re asking for “chips,” i.e., what we Americans call French fries.
Wot/Itoo - A spicy, stewy preparation of food. Common types include shirro (beany powder stuff?), siga/foon (meat), and, most popularly, doro (chicken), the national dish of Ethiopia.