A namba (or nambas) is a traditional penis sheath from Vanuatu.[1] Nambas are wrapped around the penis of the wearer, sometimes as their only clothing.[2] Two tribes on Malakula, the Big Nambas and the Smol (Small) Nambas, are named for the size of their nambas.[3]
Nambas are characteristic of central Vanuatu. In the northern islands, long mats wrapped around the waist are worn instead.
The word namba is derived from the Bislama word . This is itself borrowed from Port Sandwich or Rerep na-mbas "penis wrapper", from Proto-North-Central Vanuatu *na "article" and *ᵐbʷasa "penis wrapper", with cognates including Tamambo pronounced as /ˈᵐbʷasa/.[4] The form nambas pronounced as /naᵐbas/ has been misinterpreted as bearing the plural suffix -s of English (although such a suffix does not exist in Bislama); through a process of back-formation, this has led certain English authors to make up a singular form namba in English, with nambas as its plural.