Bantu
Americannoun
plural
Bantus,plural
Bantu-
a member of any of several peoples forming a linguistically and in some respects culturally interrelated family in central and southern Africa.
-
a grouping of more than 500 languages of central and southern Africa, as Kikuyu, Swahili, Tswana, and Zulu, all related within a subbranch of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Kordofanian family.
adjective
noun
-
a group of languages of Africa, including most of the principal languages spoken from the equator to the Cape of Good Hope, but excluding the Khoisan family: now generally regarded as part of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo family
-
taboo a Black speaker of a Bantu language
adjective
Usage
Use of the term Bantu is only acceptable outside South Africa and when talking about this group of languages and their speakers. To refer to African people or peoples, the terms Black and African are acceptable within South Africa
Other Word Forms
- non-Bantu noun
Etymology
Origin of Bantu
C19: from Bantu Ba-ntu people
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.
South African Deputy Defense Minister Bantu Holomisa said the latest exercises will be good for troop morale.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 11, 2026
On a blistering summer day, Aduba quickly styled her hair in Bantu knots as she prepared to trudge to another round of back-to-back auditions, certain more nos were on the way.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 19, 2025
He said he was based in Nigeria and his email was written in Luganda, a Bantu language spoken in Uganda.
From New York Times • May 28, 2024
It draws heavily on myths and legends told by the Bantu peoples - hundreds of different groups who live around Africa.
From BBC • Apr. 22, 2024
With the addition of iron tools to their wet-climate crops, the Bantu had finally put together a military-industrial package that was unstoppable in the subequatorial Africa of the time.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
