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Hausa

American  
[hou-sah, -suh, -zuh] / ˈhaʊ sɑ, -sə, -zə /
Or Haussa

noun

  • Hausas,
    plural
  • Hausa
    plural
  1. a member of an Indigenous people of northern Nigeria and southern Niger whose culture has been strongly influenced by Islam.

  2. the language of the Hausa people, belonging to the Chadic branch of the Afroasiatic family, widely used in Africa as a language of commerce.


Hausa British  
/ ˈhaʊsə /

noun

  1. a member of a Negroid people of W Africa, living chiefly in N Nigeria

  2. the language of this people: the chief member of the Chadic subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic family of languages. It is widely used as a trading language throughout W Africa and the S Sahara

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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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With some 80 million speakers of the north's Hausa language spread across west and central Africa -- not to mention the vast Nigerian diaspora around the world -- Kannywood's potential market is huge.

From Barron's Jan. 9, 2026

Most Nigerian films on major streamers like Netflix and Amazon Prime are from the country's richer south, where Hausa is a minority language.

From Barron's Jan. 9, 2026

In response, Nigeria's National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, told BBC Hausa that the allegations were "baseless" and "false".

From BBC Dec. 27, 2024

Like most of those who live under the bridge, he speaks Hausa, the most widely spoken language in the north of Nigeria.

From BBC Aug. 16, 2024

“People are fleeing Abagana and Ukpo, which means the Hausa soldiers are close and will soon enter Abba.”

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

In the top eight he had three Hausas, two Kanuris, one Igbo, one Yoruba and one Nupe.

From BBC May 26, 2025

"The Hausas have long struggled with alienation… and they tired of being called foreigners," says researcher Mohamed Ahmed, an expert on communities in Sudan with West African ties.

From BBC Jul. 22, 2022

But the Chadian government refused to allow them passage, which led to a community of Hausas eventually settling in Darfur and other parts of Sudan.

From BBC Jul. 22, 2022

The Hausas in the north, who furnish the backbone of Britain's tough West African Rifles, are Moslems.

From Time Magazine Archive

On the route from Duala to Lake Chad is the large commercial town of Ngaundere, inhabited chiefly by Hausas and occupied by the Germans in 1901.

From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 1 "Calhoun" to "Camoens" by Various

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