Xhosa
/ˈkǁʰoːsa/noun
A member of a Nguni-speaking people of South Africa and Zimbabwe, or their language.
Did you know?The Xhosa language uses three major click types—written with x, c, and q—sounds historically associated with neighboring Khoisan languages through prolonged contact, not with English spelling.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Bantu
Proto-Bantu
*ba-ntu
“People; the reconstructed source of the broader Bantu language family classification, not a proven direct source of Xhosa.”
Early First Millennium CE
Southern Bantu
Nguni
“A later linguistic grouping for closely related southeastern Bantu languages, including Xhosa, Zulu, and Swati.”
Precolonial period
isiXhosa
isiXhosa
“The Xhosa language; the internal name is conventionally analyzed as the language associated with the abaXhosa people.”
18th–19th Century
Dutch/English records
Xhosa
“European spellings of the ethnonym and language name, with X used to represent the prominent click consonant.”
Modern English
English
Xhosa
“The name of the people, language, and associated cultural identity in southern Africa; the ultimate origin of the ethnonym remains uncertain.”