mzungu
Britishnoun
Etymology
Origin of mzungu
C20: from Swahili
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.
COVID-19 is widely seen here as a mzungu — or white person — disease, and conspiracy theories about it are rife.
From Los Angeles Times
And even when we would go to Uganda, they would call me and my brother “mzungu,” which can mean either English or white man.
From New York Times
The boy was white — “a mzungu child,” Scolastica said, using Kiswahili slang.
From Seattle Times
Early on, during a stay at a village in Kenya, Gabriel hears some children referring to him as mzungu, which means white man.
From New York Times
Through Cristina’s admiration and exasperation, played with heartfelt intensity by Abras, we grasp Gabriel’s complications: to be seen as a “Mzungu” — or rich white tourist — is anathema to him, and yet it’s also who he is.
From Los Angeles Times
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.