Meanings
- An island region of Tanzania in the Indian Ocean.
Other examples of nonhuman self-domestication in the wild exist—for instance, the Zanzibar red colobus monkey diverged from the mainland African red colobus in similar ways during its island isolation—but bonobos are the closest and most relevant to us.
2019 January 29, Melvin Konner, “A Bold New Theory Proposes That Humans Tamed Themselves”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN, archived from the original on 09 Jul 2019 - historicalA former sultanate in East Africa in the Indian Ocean, which merged with Tanganyika in 1963 to form Tanzania.
Origin
- Classical Persianزنگبار
- EnglishZanzibar
Ultimately from Classical Persian زنگبار (zangibār), literally meaning “black-skinned coast”.
More words from Classical Persian
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic زَنْجِبَار
- زَنْجِبَار (zanjibār)island region
Catalan Zanzíbar
- Zanzíbarisland region
Chinese Mandarin 桑給巴爾 /桑给巴尔, 尚吉巴
- 桑給巴爾 /桑给巴尔 (Sāngjǐbā'ěr)island region
- 尚吉巴 (Shàngjíbā)island region
- 桑吉巴 (Sāngjíbā)island region
Czech Zanzibar
- Zanzibarisland region
Danish Zanzibar
- Zanzibarisland region
Dutch Zanzibar
- Zanzibarisland region
Finnish Sansibar
- Sansibarisland region
French Zanzibar
- Zanzibarisland region
German Sansibar
- Sansibarisland region
Greek Ζανζιβάρη
- Ζανζιβάρη (Zanzivári)island region
Hindi ज़ांज़ीबार
- ज़ांज़ीबार (zānzībār)island region
Icelandic Sansibar
- Sansibarisland region
Italian Zanzibar
- Zanzibarisland region
Japanese ザンジバル
- ザンジバル (Zanjibaru)island region
Korean 잔지바르
- 잔지바르 (Janjibareu)island region
Latvian Zanzibāra
- Zanzibāraisland region
Norwegian Bokmål Zanzibar
- Zanzibarisland region
Persian زنگبار
- زنگبار (zangebâr)island region
Polish Zanzibar
- Zanzibarisland region
Portuguese Zanzibar
- Zanzibarisland region
Russian Занзиба́р
- Занзиба́р (Zanzibár)island region
Spanish Zanzíbar
- Zanzíbarisland region
Swahili Unguja
- Ungujaisland region
Urdu زَنْجِبار, زَن٘گْبار
- زَنْجِبار (zanjibār)island region
- زَن٘گْبار (zaṅgbār)island region
Cite this entry
Zanzibar. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zanzibar
“Zanzibar.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zanzibar. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Zanzibar,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Zanzibar.
Source: Zanzibar on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.