Word.ws English Dictionary

amapakati

amapakati noun: the council or inner circle of advisers of a chief in a Nguni society.

Noun

amapakati (plural amapakatis)

  1. The council or inner circle of advisers of a chief in a Nguni society.
    • Then our people lived peacefully, under the democratic rule of their kings and their amapakati, and moved freely and confidently up and down the country without let or hindrance.1962, Nelson Mandela, Struggle is my Life
  2. A member of a council; a trusted adviser.
    • The shrewdness of the Amapakati, or Kaffir advocate.1870, C. Hamilton, Life and Sport in South-East Africa

Forms of amapakati

pluralamapakatis

Origin of amapakati

From Xhosa ama- (plural noun class marker) + -phakathi (“council”); compare pagati. Attested in English from the 19th century.

Questions about amapakati

What does amapakati mean?
Amapakati means the council or inner circle of advisers of a chief in a Nguni society.
What part of speech is amapakati?
Amapakati is a noun.
What is the plural of amapakati?
The plural of amapakati is amapakatis.

Words near amapakati in the dictionary

  1. amanuenses
  2. amanuensis
  3. amanullin
  4. Amanus
  5. amapa
  6. amapakati
  7. amapakatis
  8. amapiano
  9. Amapondo
  10. Amapá
  11. Amaqua

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: amapakati (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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