grigri

American  

[gree-gree] / ˈgri gri /

Or greegree,

noun

plural

grigris

1. an African charm, amulet, or fetish.

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grigri British  

/ ˈɡriːɡriː /

noun

1. an African talisman, amulet, or charm

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Etymology

Origin of grigri

First recorded in 1755–65, grigri is from the French word gris-gris, grigri, first recorded in West Africa in 1557; origin obscure

Example Sentences

An essential article, hung round the neck or slung to the body, is the grigri, ta'awíz, or talisman, a Koranic verse or a magic diagram enclosed in a leathern roll or in a flat square.

From To the Gold Coast for Gold A Personal Narrative in Two Volumes.—Volume I by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir

"We shall make a grigri to keep him."

From Concerning Lafcadio Hearn With a Bibliography by Laura Stedman by Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)

Thus, in a Louisiana Creole song, we find a quadroon mother promising her daughter a charm to prevent the white lover from forsaking her: "Pou tchomb� li na f� grigri."

From Concerning Lafcadio Hearn With a Bibliography by Laura Stedman by Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)

The word grigri, also of African origin, simply refers to a charm, which may be used for an innocent or innocuous purpose.

From Concerning Lafcadio Hearn With a Bibliography by Laura Stedman by Gould, George M. (George Milbrey)

In "Nágo Mbwiri" the sense is an idol, an object of worship, a "medicine" as the North-American Indians say, in contradistinction to Munda, a grigri, talisman, or charm.

From Two Trips to Gorilla Land and the Cataracts of the Congo Volume 1 by Burton, Richard Francis, Sir