bossale

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/boʊˈsæl/

noun

A black African-born enslaved person in a French (or sometimes other European) colony, especially Haiti (as opposed to a slave born in the colony).

Similar
bozal
OriginFrench bossale →
Scrabble 9
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Meanings

nounbossale (plural bossales)

plural bossales · alternative bossal

  1. historicalA black African-born enslaved person in a French (or sometimes other European) colony, especially Haiti (as opposed to a slave born in the colony).

    In Louisiana, French colonists relied on bossales later than elsewhere as they first imposed the slavery system on Amerindians only. The first slave ship carrying Africans arrived in 1719 […]

    2019, Aline Helg, Slave No More: Self-Liberation before Abolitionism in the Americas, UNC Press Books, →ISBN, page 76

    Synonyms: bozal

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA black African-born enslaved person in a French (or sometimes other European) colony, especially Haiti (as opposed to a slave born in the colony).

Similar
bozal
Also see
bozal

Origin

  1. Frenchbossale
  2. Englishbossale

From French bossale, from Spanish bozal (“wild, untamed, raw; born in Africa and recently enslaved in a colony”). Doublet of bozal and bosal.

More words from French

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

bossale. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bossale

MLA

“bossale.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bossale. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bossale,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bossale.

Source: bossale on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.