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Tutsi

American  
[toot-see] / ˈtut si /

noun

  • Tutsis,
    plural
  • Tutsi
    plural
  1. a member of a very tall, slender, cattle-raising people of Rwanda and Burundi.


Tutsi British  
/ ˈtuːtsɪ /

noun

  1. a member of a people of Rwanda and Burundi, probably a Nilotic people

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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Noun Inflected Forms

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.

See Examples For:

The Crown Prosecution Service said it was the first time charges relating to the genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda have been brought in the UK.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

For Congolese former deputy Enoch Ruberangabo, who comes from an ethnic Tutsi community in the restive east, Mobutu was a leader who "allowed community tensions to fester".

From Barron's ● Nov. 13, 2025

Meanwhile, Tutsi refugees began arriving in DR Congo, fleeing waves of ethnic violence in Rwanda and Burundi.

From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2025

That being said, experts and organisations like the UN have documented decades of discrimination against Congolese Tutsis and the Banyamulenge - a Tutsi sub-group concentrated in the South Kivu province.

From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2025

Rwanda:   In 1959, three years before independence, the majority   ethnic group, the Hutus overthrew the ruling Tutsi king.

From The 2001 CIA World Factbook by United States. Central Intelligence Agency

In the wake of the 1994 genocide, Alison Des Forges, then a senior adviser to Human Rights Watch, pointed to genocide inversion as a central means of justifying the genocide against the Tutsis.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026

While denying offering the M23 military backing, Rwanda insists that it faces an existential threat from the presence in the eastern DRC of armed groups linked to the 1994 Rwandan genocide of the Tutsis.

From Barron's ● Mar. 11, 2026

The Congolese government has gone some way in acknowledging the discrimination against Tutsis.

From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2025

Subsequently, other Tutsis have migrated to DR Congo in waves.

From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2025

Secondly, some regional analysts say that rather than seeking to defend Tutsis, the M23 - and Rwanda, which backs the rebel group - is primarily seeking to exploit the eastern DR Congo's vast mineral wealth.

From BBC ● Feb. 21, 2025

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