Bantu Definition
bănto͝o
bantus
noun
A member of any of a large number of linguistically related peoples of central and southern Africa.
American Heritage
A group of more than 200 languages belonging to the Niger-Congo language subfamily, including Swahili, Xhosa, and Zulu.
Webster's New World
A group of over 400 closely related languages spoken in central, east-central, and southern Africa, belonging to the eastern branch of the Benue-Congo group of the Niger-Congo language family and including Swahili, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Zulu, and Xhosa.
American Heritage
A member of any of the Bantu-speaking peoples living throughout the S half of the African continent.
Webster's New World
Synonyms:
- Bantoid language
adjective
Of the Bantus or their languages or cultures.
Webster's New World
pronoun
The largest African language family of the Niger-Congo group, spoken in much of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Wiktionary
General term for African ethnic groups speaking a Bantu language and their members.
Wiktionary
(South Africa, dated, now offensive) A black South African.
Wiktionary
Origin of Bantu
From Proto-Bantu bantu people ba- pl. human pref. -ntu entity
From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
-
Xhosa bantu (“people”).
From Wiktionary
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