Wanga-gut

adjective WAN-ga-GUT ˈwaŋɡa ɡʌt

Also spelled wanga gut, wangagut

Greedy and gluttonous — with an insatiable, grasping appetite for food, and by extension for anything going. A 'wanga-gut' person is one whose belly (the 'gut') is never satisfied, always craving and grabbing for more, and the word is a sharp reproach for shameless overeating and grasping want. It sits with 'craven', 'gravalicious', and 'nyami-nyami' in the vivid Jamaican vocabulary of greed, naming above all the bottomless, undignified hunger that cannot be filled.

  • Him so wanga-gut, him nyam off di whole pot.

    He's so greedy, he ate up the whole pot.

  • Nuh be wanga-gut, lef some fi di odda pickney.

    Don't be greedy, leave some for the other children.

  • A wanga-gut belly never done.

    A gluttonous belly is never full.

'Wanga' (of African derivation, connoting hunger/greed) plus 'gut' (belly) — a belly forever hungry.

A sharp word for greed and gluttony, often aimed at someone who takes more than their share.