Meanings
- South AfricauncountableA Nguni Bantu ideology focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other.
Through Ubuntu the worth of all individuals are recognized and respected. As such, homophobia is an unAfrican^([sic]) because it denies people the opportunity to express their full humanity.
2006 October 26, “South Africa: LGBT Groups Respond To CONTRALESA’s Stance On Same Sex Marriage”, in OutRight Action International, archived from the original on 26 Oct 20151 more example
This includes buen vivir (or sumak kawsay or suma qamaña), a culture of life with different names and varieties emerging from indigenous peoples in various regions of South America; ubuntu, with its emphasis on human mutuality (“I am because we are”) in South Africa; radical ecological democracy or ecological swaraj, with a focus on self-reliance and self-governance, in India; and degrowth, the hypothesis that we can live better with less and in common, in western countries.
2015 July 21, “Sustainable development is failing but there are alternatives to capitalism”, in The Guardian
Origin
- Proto-Bantu*bʊ̀ntʊ̀
- Zuluubúnt
- Proto-Bantu*bʊ̀ntʊ̀
- Xhosaúbúnt
- Englishubuntu
Loanword from Zulu ubuntu (“humanity”) and Xhosa ubuntu (“humaneness, solidarity”), from Proto-Bantu *bʊ̀ntʊ̀.
More words from Zulu, Xhosa, Proto-Bantu
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 烏班圖 /乌班图
- 烏班圖 /乌班图 (wūbāntú)ubuntu
Polish ubuntu
- ubuntuubuntu
Portuguese ubuntu
- ubuntuubuntu
Russian общинность, соборность
- общинность (obščinnostʹ)ubuntu
- соборность (sobornostʹ)ubuntu
Swahili utu
- utuubuntu
Zulu ubuntu
- ubuntuubuntu
Cite this entry
ubuntu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ubuntu
“ubuntu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ubuntu. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ubuntu,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ubuntu.
Source: ubuntu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.