Word.ws English Dictionary

Hottentots

Hottentots is the plural of Hottentot.

Meaning of Hottentot

Noun

Hottentot (plural Hottentots)

  1. (archaic, offensive) A member of the Khoekhoe group of peoples.
    • I was told that the Hottentots were uncommonly ugly and disgusting, but I do not think them so bad. Their features are small and their cheekbones immense, but they have a kind expression and countenance.1798-1801, Lady Ann Barnard, Letters and Journals
  2. (archaic, broadly, offensive) A member of the broader Khoisan group of peoples.
    • The Hottentots (Khoisan peoples) once an independent nation but whose simple tribal system had disintegrated rapidly as they were relentlessly displaced from their traditional grazing grounds and driven deep into the still uninhabited interior […]1978, Patricia Storrar, Portrait of Plettenberg Bay
    Synonyms:
    Khoekhoe, Khoikhoi, Khoi

See all 4 meanings of hottentot

Questions about Hottentots

What is Hottentots the plural of?
Hottentots is the plural of Hottentot.

Words near Hottentots in the dictionary

  1. Hottentotese
  2. Hottentotic
  3. Hottentotish
  4. Hottentotism
  5. Hottentotisms
  6. Hottentots
  7. hotteok
  8. hotteoks
  9. hotter
  10. hotter than a pistol
  11. hotter than a two dollar pistol

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Hottentots (page history and authors); Hottentot (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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Cite this entry: “Hottentots.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hottentots. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.