Tshokwe
/tʃɔːkˈweɪ/noun
A variant English spelling of Chokwe, referring to a Bantu-speaking people, their language, or their cultural tradition in parts of Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia.
Did you know?Chokwe masquerades, including the famous Cihongo and Mwana Pwo figures, were traditionally connected with ancestral power, initiation, authority, and social transformation.
Etymological Timeline
Precolonial period
Bantu
Cokwe
“The indigenous ethnonym and language name represented in several orthographies; its deeper internal meaning is uncertain.”
19th Century
Portuguese
Quioco
“A Portuguese colonial rendering of the people’s name, historically used in writing about central Angola.”
19th–20th Century
Portuguese
Chokwe
“A standardized or widely used spelling for the ethnic group and its language.”
20th Century
English
Chokwe
“The predominant English form for the people, language, and artistic tradition.”
Modern English
English
Tshokwe
“A less common spelling variant, reflecting orthographic variation in the representation of the initial affricate sound.”