Gullah

American  

[guhl-uh] / ˈgʌl ə /

noun

1. a member of a population of Black Americans inhabiting the Sea Islands and the coastal regions of South Carolina, Georgia, and northeastern Florida.

2. a creolized form of English spoken by the Gullahs, containing many words and grammatical features derived from African languages.

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Gullah British  

/ ˈɡʌlə /

noun

1. a member of a Negroid people living on the Sea Islands or in the coastal regions of South Carolina, Georgia, and NE Florida

2. the creolized English spoken by these people

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Etymology

Origin of Gullah

1730–40; of uncertain origin; variously identified with Angola or the Gola, a Liberian ethnic group

Example Sentences

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

Small communities descended from enslaved island populations in the South, known as Gullah, or Geechee in Georgia, are scattered along the coast from North Carolina to Florida.

From BBC • Oct. 19, 2024

The writer traveled to seven praise houses in South Carolina and Georgia, along the Gullah Geechee Corridor.

From New York Times • Nov. 23, 2023

Nearby, an elderly member of South Carolina’s Gullah Geechee people — descendants of Africans who were forced to labor on plantations along the Atlantic Coast — was busy weaving a traditional hat out of sweetgrass.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 21, 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