Meanings
- archaicA cowrie shell, once used as a form of currency in parts of Africa.
It is true that the inhabitants of Congo do also make use of shells, by them called zimbi, or zinibi; but these are carried to them only by the Portuguese, who are in a manner masters of this great kingdom.
1850, John Macgregor, Commercial statistics: A digest of the productive resources, commercial legislation, customs tariffs, of all nations. Including all British commercial treaties with foreign states1 more example
In the kingdom of Congo there is said to be another kind of shell current, called zimbi. Two thousand of these zimbi form a maconti or macinte; and one of the writers on Central Africa some years ago stated that two Flemish knives were deemed worth a maconti; a copper basin, two pounds in weight and twelve inches in diameter, three maconti; a fusee, ten macontis, &c.
1844 April 27, Knight's Penny Magazine, volume 13, page 159
Cite this entry
zimbi. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zimbi
“zimbi.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zimbi. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “zimbi,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/zimbi.
Source: zimbi on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.