Òrìṣà
/òɹìʃà/noun
A deity or spiritual power in Yoruba religion and related Afro-Atlantic traditions.
Did you know?Òrìṣà are not simply interchangeable with Western ideas of ‘gods’: many are understood as sacred powers connected to nature, ancestry, destiny, and ritual relationship.
Etymological Timeline
Precolonial period
Yoruba
òrìṣà
“A divine or sacred spiritual power within Yoruba religious tradition”
19th Century
Yoruba
òrìṣà
“A deity or spiritual being honored through ritual, praise poetry, sacrifice, and possession”
19th Century
Portuguese
orixá
“A term adopted in Portuguese descriptions of Yoruba-derived religion, especially in Brazil”
19th–20th Century
Spanish
oricha
“A deity in Afro-Cuban religious traditions such as Regla de Ocha”
20th Century
English
orisha
“An English loanword for a Yoruba deity or sacred spiritual force”
Modern English
English
òrìṣà
“A scholarly and culturally precise spelling preserving Yoruba tone and diacritics”