Dahomey
Americannoun
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former name of Benin.
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Also called the Kingdom of Dahomey. a former kingdom in what is now southern Benin that existed from around 1600 to 1900.
noun
Other Word Forms
- Dahoman adjective
- Dahomean adjective
Etymology
Origin of Dahomey
First recorded in 1780–90; from Fon dã homè; literally, “belly of Da, snake's belly”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Even the language they use to denounce them, French, is a foreign tongue and not one endemic to Dahomey.
From Los Angeles Times • Nov. 1, 2024
The Dahomey, also called the Fon, in West Africa traditionally believed that women had three souls and men had four.
From Scientific American • Jun. 14, 2023
Jean Josué Pierre Dahomey, Haiti’s ambassador to France, said the tribute to Louverture should also be “a testament to France’s obligation of solidarity toward Haiti.”
From New York Times • Apr. 27, 2023
In “The Woman King,” Viola Davis is the head of the Agojie, an all-female unit of warriors who protected the West African kingdom of Dahomey in the 19th century.
From Seattle Times • Jan. 20, 2023
And for myself, I lie in my hammock at night and whisper the names to the darkness: Dahomey, Taghaza, Sankore, Accra, the ancient realm of Songhai.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
