Meanings
plural hounfours · alternative hounfor · alternative ounfò
- A voodoo temple.
A stretch of straw mats is laid on the ground leading from the door of the hounfor.
1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 473 more examples
I arrived around ten and was taken into the peristyle, the roofed court of the hounfour, and was led around a semicircle of tables to the one where Beauvoir sat at the head.
1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 47In the afternoon, Magda and I went out to purchase some gifts: perfume for Ezili and a bottle of rum for the ounfò.
1995, Marilyn Houlberg, in Cosentino (ed.), Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou, South Sea International Press 1998, p. 276Because her Western science has failed to restore Jessica to health, Betsy secretly takes her charge to see the houngan priest at the hounfour for help.
2011, Kyle William Bishop, American Zombie Gothic, page 88
Origin
- Haitian Creoleoungfò
- Englishhounfour
From Haitian Creole oungfò.
More words from Haitian Creole
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
hounfour. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hounfour
“hounfour.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hounfour. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hounfour,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hounfour.
Source: hounfour on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.