Meanings
nounBantu (countable and uncountable, plural Bantus or Bantu)
plural Bantus
- countableA member of any of the African ethnic groups that speak a Bantu language.
- uncountableThe largest African language family of the Niger-Congo group, spoken in much of Sub-Saharan Africa.
Synonyms & antonyms
nouna family of languages widely spoken in the southern half of the African continent
Similar
Bantoid language
Broader
Also see
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Proto-Bantu*bàntʊ̀ pl“people”
- EnglishBantu
Borrowed from Proto-Bantu *bàntʊ̀ pl (“people”), as reconstructed by the 19th-century linguist Wilhelm Bleek.
More words from Proto-Bantu
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Afrikaans Bantoe, Sintoe
- Bantoelanguage family
- Sintoelanguage family
Chinese Mandarin 班圖語支 /班图语支
- 班圖語支 /班图语支 (Bāntú yǔzhī)language family
Danish bantu
- bantulanguage family
Dutch Bantoe
- Bantoelanguage family
Finnish bantu
- bantulanguage family
German Bantu, Bantu-Sprachfamilie
- Bantulanguage family
- Bantu-Sprachfamilielanguage family
Japanese バントゥー
- バントゥーlanguage family
Norwegian Bokmål bantu
- bantulanguage family
Polish Bantu, bantu
- Bantumember of the ethnic group
- bantulanguage family
Russian банту
- банту (bantu)language family
Spanish bantú
- bantúlanguage family
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
APA
Bantu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bantu
MLA
“Bantu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bantu. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Bantu,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Bantu.
Source: Bantu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.