Word.ws English Dictionary

hounsi

UK/ˈ(h)uːnsi/

hounsi noun: a voodoo initiate; a helper for a houngan or mambo.

Noun

hounsi (plural hounsis)

  1. A voodoo initiate; a helper for a houngan or mambo.
    • At the entrance to the tent, the hounsis stretch out upon the mats.1953, Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, McPherson & Company, published 2004, page 48
    • Each hounsis remained anonymous, focused inward and turned away from the audience toward the poteau mitan and the drums.1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 48

Forms of hounsi

pluralhounsis
alternative formounsi

Origin of hounsi

From Haitian Creole, from Fon.

Questions about hounsi

What does hounsi mean?
Hounsi means a voodoo initiate; a helper for a houngan or mambo.
What part of speech is hounsi?
Hounsi is a noun.
How do you pronounce hounsi?
Hounsi is pronounced /ˈ(h)uːnsi/ (UK).
What is the plural of hounsi?
The plural of hounsi is hounsis.

Words near hounsi in the dictionary

  1. houngenikon
  2. houngenikons
  3. Hounsell
  4. Hounshell
  5. Hounshells
  6. hounsi
  7. hounsis
  8. hounskull
  9. hounskulls
  10. Hounslow
  11. Hounslow Heath

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: hounsi (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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