Songhai

American  

[song-gahy] / sɒŋˈgaɪ /

noun

Songhais plural

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.

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Songhai British  

/ sɒŋˈɡaɪ /

noun

1. 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

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• Songhai
  plural
• Songhais
  plural

Example Sentences

“ECOWAS said they had a non-coup policy,” said Adedayo Ademuwagun, a Lagos-based analyst with Songhai Advisory, a risk assessment firm.

From New York Times • Nov. 28, 2023

Askia the Great’s successors could not maintain control of the empire, however, and in the sixteenth century, Songhai was defeated by Saadi forces from Morocco seeking to gain control of the trans-Saharan caravan routes.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

All this unfolded just as a sense of stability and calm had returned to Songhai under the reign of Askia Ishaq II, which began in 1588.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

Growth continued under his successors, especially Askia the Great, who used Islam to further his control and brought Songhai into its golden age.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

And for myself, I lie in my hammock at night and whisper the names to the darkness: Dahomey, Taghaza, Sankore, Accra, the ancient realm of Songhai.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson