bantu

Noun · Adjective
US[ban-too]/ˈbæntu/2 syllables
Synonyms: Bantoid language

Open English WordNet

Noun (2)

  1. a member of any of a large number of linguistically related peoples of Central and South AfricaType of AfricanKinds Tutsi, Tswana, Shona, Sotho, Herero, Hutu, Luba
  2. a family of languages widely spoken in the southern half of the African continentSynonyms: Bantoid languageType of Niger-CongoKinds Swahili, Kamba, Luba, Shona, Luyia, Pokomo, Kichaga, Herero, LuGanda, Chichewa +13 more

Adjective (1)

  1. of or relating to the African people who speak one of the Bantoid languages or to their culture“the Bantu population of Sierra Leone”
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Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Ban′tu prop. n.

A member of one of the great family of Negroid tribes occupying equatorial and southern Africa. These tribes include, as important divisions, the Kafirs, Damaras, Bechuanas, and many tribes whose names begin with Aba-, Ama-, Ba-, Ma-, Wa-, variants of the Bantu plural personal prefix Aba-, as in Ba-ntu, or Aba-ntu, itself a combination of this prefix with the syllable -ntu, a person; or as in Watusi.

2. the family of languages spoken by the Bantu people (definition 1).


Ban′tu adjective

1. Of or pertaining to the Bantu language group Bantu (definition 2); as, Bantu languages.

2. of or pertaining to the Bantu people (definition 1). The Bantu population of Sierra Leone

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: 1913 supplement, GCIDE editors, WordNet 1.5

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