Bantu
WordNet
adjective
(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"
noun
(2) A family of languages widely spoken in the southern half of the African continent
(3) A member of any of a large number of linguistically related peoples of Central and South Africa
WiktionaryText
Etymology
The plural of Nguni word ntu 'person' (using plural prefix "ba"), meaning "people"; often used to describe a language family.
Proper noun
- the largest African language family of the Niger-Congo group, spoken in much of Sub-Saharan Africa.
- General term for African ethnic groups speaking a Bantu language and their members.
- (South African: historical, now unacceptable/derogatory) A black South African.
Usage notes
Black South Africans were at times officially called "Bantus" by the Apartheid regime. New legislation and documents from the South African government have replaced "Bantu" with "Black" due to its derogative past. Outside Southern Africa the term is still widely used as a term for the Bantu-speaking peoples.