Bantu
a member of any of several peoples forming a linguistically and in some respects culturally interrelated family in central and southern Africa.
a grouping of more than 500 languages of central and southern Africa, as Kikuyu, Swahili, Tswana, and Zulu, all related within a subbranch of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Kordofanian family.
of, relating to, or characteristic of Bantu or the Bantu peoples.
Other words from Bantu
- non-Bantu, noun, adjective
Words Nearby Bantu
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use Bantu in a sentence
Alluding to the increasingly bizarre hairstyles McCain has sported on The View over the past year, Desus said that she “has to” come out in Bantu knots for her final episode.
Desus & Mero Drag Meghan McCain on Her Way Out of ‘The View’ | Matt Wilstein | July 2, 2021 | The Daily BeastAnother well-known picture represents the way in which the Bushmen steal cattle from a Bantu tribe.
Elements of Folk Psychology | Wilhelm WundtThe Bantu, for example, swears by the head of his father or the cap of his mother, as well as by the colour of his ox.
Elements of Folk Psychology | Wilhelm WundtIt should be superfluous to say that the Bantu myth cannot possibly throw any tight on the real origin of totemism.
The Secret of the Totem | Andrew LangThe Bantu, ancestor-worshippers of great piety, find themselves saddled with sacred tribal Siboko; why, they know not.
The Secret of the Totem | Andrew Lang
In the Bantu languages, the principle of concord works very much as in Chinook.
Language | Edward Sapir
British Dictionary definitions for Bantu
/ (ˈbɑːntʊ, ˈbæntuː, bænˈtuː) /
a group of languages of Africa, including most of the principal languages spoken from the equator to the Cape of Good Hope, but excluding the Khoisan family: now generally regarded as part of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo family
plural -tu or -tus Southern African taboo a Black speaker of a Bantu language
denoting, relating to, or belonging to this group of peoples or to any of their languages
Origin of Bantu
1usage For Bantu
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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