Etymology

jumbie bead

Today it means: A jequirity bean, the seed of the jequirity plant (Abrus precatorius) used in beadwork or making percussion instruments. Full definition →

Kongo zumbi ← Kimbundu nzumbi
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Kimbundu · derived fromnzumbi“god”
  2. Kongo · derived fromzumbi“fetish, spirit”
  3. English todayjumbie bead

From jumbie + bead. Jumbie is apparently from Kongo zumbi (“fetish, spirit”) or Kimbundu nzumbi (“god”). Compare zombie.

Words from the same roots

Kongozumbi all →

jumbiemoko jumbie

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.