umfazi

/ ʊmˈfɑːzɪ /

noun

1. an African married woman

Word History and Origins

Origin of umfazi¹

Nguni

Example Sentences

The hard work that an umfazi, or wife, has to perform very soon spoils her girlish figure and appearance, and she then becomes a haggard, wrinkled, repulsive old witch.

From Project Gutenberg

Mine were the finest, so it was agreed that I was to take Peshauna as my umfazi.

From Project Gutenberg

Human nature, whether black, red, or white, is very much alike all over the world; each to the unseasoned eye has its special peculiarities and prominent points of ridicule, and I doubt whether a Zulu chief and umfazi, with their scanty attire of strips of skins and bead and feather ornaments, would produce more ridicule were they to walk up Regent-street, than would an English gentleman fashionably attired, or a lady with looped and festooned dress and embroidered under-garment, at the court of Kaffirland.

From Project Gutenberg