Gullah
Americannoun
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a member of a population of Black Americans inhabiting the Sea Islands and the coastal regions of South Carolina, Georgia, and northeastern Florida.
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a creolized form of English spoken by the Gullahs, containing many words and grammatical features derived from African languages.
noun
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a member of a Negroid people living on the Sea Islands or in the coastal regions of South Carolina, Georgia, and NE Florida
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the creolized English spoken by these people
Etymology
Origin of Gullah
1730–40; of uncertain origin; variously identified with Angola or the Gola, a Liberian ethnic group
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.
The Gullah Geechee people are descendants of Africans who were enslaved on plantations along the south-eastern US coast, including in South Carolina.
From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2025
As he puts it, “There are recipes that come home to me because of my own Gullah Geechee experience”—specifically chicken pilau, chicken perloo and jambalaya.
From Salon ● Feb. 22, 2025
The sixth-generation native of Daufuskie Island, a once-thriving Gullah community, remembers relatives hosting meals and imparting life lessons on the next generation.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 19, 2023
The writer traveled to seven praise houses in South Carolina and Georgia, along the Gullah Geechee Corridor.
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2023
Late in the evening we will sometimes pull into the dirt parking lot of a clapboard praise house and listen to old, dark Gullah hymns rising out the windows.
From "The Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver
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.
