Akan

American  

[ah-kahn] / ˈɑ kɑn /

noun

• Akans,
  plural
• Akan
  plural

1. a language of the Kwa branch of Niger-Congo spoken in much of Ghana and parts of the Ivory Coast.

2. a member of any of various Akan-speaking peoples, including the Ashanti and Fanti.

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Akan British  

/ ˈɑːkɑːn /

noun

1. a member of a people of Ghana and the E Côte d'Ivoire

2. the language of this people, having two chief dialects, Fanti and Twi, and belonging to the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Akan
  plural
• Akans
  plural

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Akan Akans

The description says it is a metaphorical symbol used by the Akan people of Ghana to express “the importance of reaching back to knowledge gained in the past and bringing it into the present.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2026

Ghana has for several years been experiencing power shortages popularly known as "dumsor", which means on and off in the Akan language.

From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2023

At lake Akan, the cumulative water temperature was 1250°C-days in 1988, but in the past decade it has risen to about 1610°C-days.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2023

“Since you were born on a Tuesday, I’m sure you would not mind the Ghanaian name Abena, the Akan name for all Tuesday born females, to your name,” he said.

From Seattle Times ● Apr. 2, 2023

Akim is considered the finest and purest of all the Akan dialects.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 12, Slice 2 "Gloss" to "Gordon, Charles George" by Various

But some matrilocal communities exist today or in the recent past, including the Akans in Ghana, West Africa and Cherokee in North America.

From BBC ● Jan. 15, 2025

The Akans, among whom Busia is a royal prince, are four times as nu merous in Ghana as the Ewe tribe, to which his adversary Gbedemah belongs.

From Time Magazine Archive