Kikuyu

American  

[ki-koo-yoo] / kɪˈku yu /

noun

Kikuyus plural

1. a member of an Indigenous people of Kenya having an agricultural economy and notable as being the originators of the Mau Mau.

2. the language of the Kikuyu, a Bantu language.

3. Also called kikuyu grass.  Usually kikuyu a grass, Pennisetum clandestinum, native to southern Africa, sometimes used in warm climates for lawns or as pasturage.

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Kikuyu British  

/ kɪˈkuːjuː /

noun

1. a member of a Negroid people of E Africa, living chiefly in Kenya on the high foothills around Mount Kenya

2. the language of this people, belonging to the Bantu group of the Niger-Congo family

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• Kikuyu
  plural
• Kikuyus
  plural

Example Sentences

"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

So, angry about corruption and police excesses, she says she joined friends protesting in Kikuyu, a lush town on the outskirts of the capital.

From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 9, 2025

The Kikuyu, Kenya's largest ethnic group from the Mt Kenya region, overwhelmingly backed Ruto in the 2022 elections, together with Rigathi Gachagua, who hails from the region, as his deputy.

From BBC • Jul. 11, 2025

“The Kikuyu grass by the side of the road is crying silver tears the color of remembered light; Nairobi is a smoggy haze in the distance,” he writes in “Discovering Home.”

From New York Times • May 29, 2023

We stopped to wait for a herd of cattle crossing the road, driven by Kikuyu boys holding switches.

From "The Hot Zone" by Richard Preston