Gullah

/ˈɡʌl.ə/

Gullah proper noun: a creole of English and various African languages spoken on a group of islands off the coast of the Carolinas and Georgia in the Southern United States.

Proper noun

Gullah

A creole of English and various African languages spoken on a group of islands off the coast of the Carolinas and Georgia in the Southern United States.
- Gullah has been spoken continuously since before the Civil War.
The culture surrounding this language and geography.

Noun

Gullah (plural Gullahs or Gullah)

A member of the Gullah culture.

Adjective

Gullah (not comparable)

Pertaining to the Gullah language and culture.
- The music of George Gershwin’s Porgie and Bess was inspired in part by Gullah "shouts".
Synonyms:

Geechee, Gullah Geechee

Synonyms of Gullah

Forms of Gullah

plural	Gullahs
plural	Gullah

Origin of Gullah

First attested in 1739 as a male black slave's proper name, of unclear origin. Traditionally linked by folk etymology to an apheresis of Angola (where many African slaves were carried from), or an apparent West African ethno-tribal group called the Gola people. See more at the Wikipedia article Gullah, including other theories.

Phrases with Gullah

Gullah Geechee

Words that rhyme with Gullah

Questions about Gullah

What does Gullah mean?: Gullah means a creole of English and various African languages spoken on a group of islands off the coast of the Carolinas and Georgia in the Southern United States.
What part of speech is Gullah?: Gullah can be a proper noun, a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce Gullah?: Gullah is pronounced /ˈɡʌl.ə/.

Words near Gullah in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: Gullah (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “Gullah.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/gullah. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.