boubou

plural boubous

1. A flowing wide-sleeved robe worn by men in much of West Africa, and to a lesser extent in North Africa.

   Yedjo is dressed in a black boubou and carries a saber in his left hand, its copper handle in the form of a vulture's head.

   1992, Paul Stoller, The Cinematic Griot, The Ethnography of Jean Rouch, page 109

   1 more example

   In Bamako’s thriving market, a group of moneychangers in brightly colored boubous, the traditional robes worn here, said that Moussa Magassa, who owns the house in the Bronx where his family and the Soumares lived and who lost five children in the blaze, stopped by once or twice a year on his trips home to Mali and was well known in the community.

   2007 March 11, Michael Kamber, “A continent away, heartbreak over relatives once seen as lucky”, in The New York Times

   Synonyms: agbada

plural boubous

1. Any of certain species of birds in the bushshrike genus Laniarius.