Songhai

American  

[song-gahy] / sɒŋˈgaɪ /

noun

• Songhais,
  plural
• Songhai
  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

Noun Inflected Forms

• Songhai
  plural
• Songhais
  plural

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Songhai

“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

In what ways did civil war affect the Songhai Empire after the reign of Askia the Great?

From Textbooks ● Dec. 14, 2022

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

The collapse of both Songhai and Kanem-Bornu allowed emergent polities like Dahomey, Oyo, and Segou to flourish, but tensions soon arose among them as competition for trade escalated.

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