Meanings
- Of or from Guinea-Bissau.
Copious amounts of palm oil, tomatoes, chili, fish, and goat’s meat are considered traditional staples in Guinea-Bissauan cooking.
2009, Jamie Stokes, editor, Encyclopedia of the Peoples of Africa and the Middle East, Facts On File, Inc., Infobase Publishing, →ISBN, page 2702 more examples
These events and the silences and taboos surrounding them helped create the conditions for the longevity of the ‘linha de Cabral’ or ‘Cabral’s programme’ as a key reference of the erstwhile liberation movement and Guinea-Bissauan politics in general until the late 1990s.
2012, Philip J. Havik, “Virtual Nations and Failed States: Making Sense of the Labyrinth”, in Eric Morier-Genoud, editor, Sure Road? Nationalisms in Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique, Leiden, S.H.; Boston, Mass.: Brill, →ISBN, page 52Cabral and Pereira looked to unify both nations until Cabral’s prime minister, the former commander of the Guinea-Bissauan armed forces, João Bernardo Vieira, led a military coup against Cabral in 1980 on the grounds that Cabral’s Cape Verdean origins (like his brother, Amílcar, he was born in Bissau to Cape Verdean mixed-race parents) compromised his dedication to the Guinea-Bissauan people.
2021, Lamonte Aidoo, Daniel F. Silva, editors, Lusophone African Short Stories and Poetry after Independence: Decolonial Destinies, Anthem Press, →ISBN, page 22Synonyms: Bissau-Guinean
plural Guinea-Bissauans
- A person from Guinea-Bissau or of Guinea-Bissaun descent.
A noticeable proportion of Guinea-Bissauans are mixed race Crioulo-speakers; mostly Cape Verdean, but also descendants of the small number of settlers and traders who came direct from Portugal.
1990, Jim Hudgens, Richard Trillo, West Africa: The Rough Guide, Rough Guides, →ISBN, page 5312 more examples
Hoyt said, ‘When you look at me, I don’t want you to see a Guinea-Bissauan. My passport is a detail. It helped me through a personal crisis. Do me the courtesy of seeing me as I really am, a colleague and a fellow human being.’
1996, Paul Theroux, “The Lawyer’s Story”, in News: Scoops, Lies, and Videotape . . . Inside the Media Business […], Granta, →ISBN, page 237In other words, the cocaine trade may be seen to provide a possibility for migration when in Bissau, just as selling cocaine may provide one of the few ways that Guinea-Bissauans can gain an income once they arrive in Europe, yet in doing so it makes both migration from Bissau and life in Europe increasingly difficult, as Guinea-Bissauans are increasingly policed and met with suspicion.
2018, Nigel Rapport, editor, Distortion: Social Processes Beyond the Structured and Systemic, Routledge, →ISBN
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveOf or from Guinea-Bissau.
Origin
Cite this entry
Guinea-Bissauan. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Guinea-Bissauan
“Guinea-Bissauan.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Guinea-Bissauan. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Guinea-Bissauan,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Guinea-Bissauan.
Source: Guinea-Bissauan on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.