Kpelle

[ kuh-pel-uh ]

noun

, plural Kpel·les, (especially collectively) Kpel·le

1. a member of an Indigenous people living mainly in Liberia.
2. the Mande language of the Kpelle people.

Example Sentences

Dominique Tolbert, who lives in New Rochelle, N.Y., is a granddaughter of Mr. Tolbert, the former president, and a descendant of Americo Liberians, as well as the Kpelle people, who are Indigenous to Liberia, and members of the African diaspora from Barbados.

From New York Times

Gbessa, a Vai woman, later finds herself in a position of power and tells some tribal workers in English: “No Bassa, no Kpelle, no Vai people on my farm … We Liberian here.”

From The Guardian

Among the Kpelle, a negro tribe of Liberia, twins are regarded as born magicians, and as such are treated with respect, and people sometimes make them presents in order to ensure their goodwill; in doing so they are careful never to make a present to the one twin without the other, and the twin who was born last gets his present first, for he is regarded as the first-born.

From Project Gutenberg

Twins are thought by the Kpelle to do wonders; they even say that "a twin surpasses every medicine-man."

From Project Gutenberg