Songhai

[ song-gahy ]

noun

, plural Son·ghais, (especially collectively) Son·ghai

1. a member of a group of peoples living along the Niger River in the area of Timbuktu and Gao in Mali and in adjacent areas of Niger and Burkina Faso.
2. a West African empire dominated by the Songhai that flourished in the 15th and 16th centuries.
3. the Nilo-Saharan language of the Songhai.

Songhai

/ sɒŋˈɡaɪ /

noun

1. -ghai-ghais a member of a Nilotic people of W Africa, living chiefly in Mali and Niger in the central Niger valley
2. the language or group of dialects spoken by this people, now generally regarded as forming a branch of the Nilo-Saharan family