gentoo, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

gentoo n.

also gintu, jentoe, jintoe

[‘named for the Gentoo, a ship which arrived at Cape Town in the mid-19th century with a group of women passengers who became prostitutes; the countries of origin of the women and the ship, and the circumstances of their arrival at the Cape are obscure and in dispute’ (DSAE). The main theories point to the UK, whose authorities sent out 46 women spec. recruited for the task, or the French]

(S.Afr.) a prostitute; thus gentoo house, a brothel, usu. entertained by a Malay band.

1937–84		Partridge DSUE (1984) 621: late C.19–20.
1946		Cape Times 23 May letter n.p.: Jintoe, probably from a French ship carrying women, which put in at the Cape many years ago [DSUE].
1966		Trimble 5000 Adult Sex Words and Phrases.
1977		D. Muller Whitey 91: He could hear the voices of Boats and his gentoo [...] sudden giggles, the smacks of wet kisses.
1983		J. Matthews The Park and Other Stories (2nd edn) 221: Hey, Maria. You old jintoe!
2000		A. Brink Rights of Desire (2001) 63: We can’t take in any jentoe from the street.
2005		A. Lovejoy Acid Alex 211: Blommetjie and the other gintus are good money because they are gintus.