Kikuyu
Americannoun
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a member of an Indigenous people of Kenya having an agricultural economy and notable as being the originators of the Mau Mau.
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the language of the Kikuyu, a Bantu language.
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Also called kikuyu grass. Usually kikuyu a grass, Pennisetum clandestinum, native to southern Africa, sometimes used in warm climates for lawns or as pasturage.
noun
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a member of a Negroid people of E Africa, living chiefly in Kenya on the high foothills around Mount Kenya
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the language of this people, belonging to the Bantu group of the Niger-Congo family
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
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.
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In fact, the Kikuyu are often referred to as the House of Mũmbi, after their mythological founding mother.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
"Hold On to Me" from Cyprus traces the efforts of an 11-year-old tracking down her estranged father, while documentary "Kikuyu Land" from Kenya examines how powerful outside forces use local corruption to dispossess a people.
From Barron's ● Jan. 22, 2026
The Kenyan's work spanned six decades and two languages - first English, and then his mother tongue, Kikuyu.
From BBC ● Dec. 31, 2025
He dropped his English name, James, and resolved to write only in the language of the Kikuyu people, his mother tongue.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2025
When he was two days old he was set outside the house in his crib, and in accordance with Kikuyu custom, all the elders of the tribe walked past to give him their blessing.
From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall
Instead of delivering votes for his chosen successor, Mr. Kenyatta suffered a humiliating rebuke from voters in his heartland, the Mount Kenya region, where ethnic Kikuyus rejected his allies across the board.
From New York Times ● Aug. 15, 2022
Ethnic Kikuyus, and people from the wider Central region, have massive influence on both the economy and politics.
From BBC ● May 15, 2022
But tribalism remained a strong element in Kenyan politics, and he surrounded himself with a close-knit cadre of his fellow Kikuyus, whose traditional homeland was near Mount Kenya.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 22, 2022
Both men are also Kikuyus, Kenya’s biggest ethnic group but still a minority.
From Reuters ● Sep. 3, 2017
It is the form of greeting among the Kikuyus, and, in my opinion, might be improved.
From In Africa Hunting Adventures in the Big Game Country by McCutcheon, John T.
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.
