Yoruba
Americannoun
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Yorubas,
plural
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Yoruba
plural
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a member of a numerous West African coastal people.
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the language of the Yoruba, a Kwa language.
noun
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a member of a Negroid people of W Africa, living chiefly in the coastal regions of SW Nigeria: noted for their former city states and complex material culture, particularly as evidenced in their music, art, and sculpture
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the language of this people, belonging to the Kwa branch of the Niger-Congo family
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Nouns
Example Sentences
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Blending Yoruba, Catholic and mystical traditions, their photos feature jet-black subjects that blend into inky backgrounds, their eyes piercing the darkness as they stare at the viewer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 25, 2026
For example, AI speech recognition tools fail less than 6% of the time in English, but more than ten times as often in Yoruba, one of the most widely spoken languages in West Africa.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 16, 2026
At the core of Ibeyi, which translates to “twins” in the Yoruba language, is the polarity between sisters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
They describe it as "neither wholly Brazilian nor wholly Yoruba, but entirely its own".
From BBC ● Apr. 7, 2026
Some of the boys, with their new Yoruba names, beseeched these girls by citing Frantz Fanon.
From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Meanwhile, among the Yorubas and Igbos of southern Nigeria, some marks are linked to life and death.
From BBC ● May 20, 2022
“Don’t you hear the Yorubas speaking their own language?”
From The Guardian ● Mar. 14, 2019
The Yorubas of the south-west are split between Muslims and Christians and the Igbos of the south-east and neighbouring groups are mostly Christian or follow traditional religions.
From BBC ● Feb. 10, 2019
The Nigerian government is currently dominated by Christian Yorubas.
From New York Times ● Dec. 24, 2012
Thus the Yorubas hold that every man has three spiritual inmates, of whom the first, called Olori, dwells in the head and is the man’s protector, guardian, and guide.
From The Golden Bough by Sir James George Frazer
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