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inkalimeva

inkalimeva noun: a mythical animal that features in Xhosa folk tales. It is often described as a jackal-like creature with a multi-coloured coat.

Noun

inkalimeva

  1. (South Africa) A mythical animal that features in Xhosa folk tales. It is often described as a jackal-like creature with a multi-coloured coat.
    • In a short time, the coney fell asleep, when the inkalimeva (a fabulous animal) went in and ate all the fat.1907, George McCall Theal, History and Ethnography of Africa South of the Zambesi: From the Settlement of the Portuguese at Sofala in September 1505 to the Conquest of the Cape Colony by the British...
    • Various animals are tricked by a fabulous creature, an inkalimeva. They are meant to guard a pool created by the animals. With its musical instrument, an inkingi, a stringed instrument, it lulls the guards into a deep sleep, and then the inkalimeva drinks the water. Finally, a tortoise turns the...2006, Nongenile Masithathu Zenani, Ndumiso Bhotomane, South African Voices: A Long Time Passed, volume 1, page 139

Questions about inkalimeva

What does inkalimeva mean?
Inkalimeva means a mythical animal that features in Xhosa folk tales. It is often described as a jackal-like creature with a multi-coloured coat.
What part of speech is inkalimeva?
Inkalimeva is a noun.

Words near inkalimeva in the dictionary

  1. ink-stained
  2. ink-well
  3. ink-wells
  4. Inka
  5. inkable
  6. inkalimeva
  7. Inkan
  8. Inkas
  9. inkball
  10. inkballs
  11. inkberries

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: inkalimeva (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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