Word.ws English Dictionary

inkosi

inkosi noun: a chief (particularly Zulu).

Noun

inkosi (plural inkosis or amakhosi)

  1. A chief (particularly Zulu).
    • Before leaving his house to go to the kraal the inkosi had to eat a little porridge.1956, Margaret Read, The Ngoni of Nyasaland, page 66
    • Muse, sing the rage of Peleus’ son Akhilleus, / deadly rage that brought the Akhaians endless pain, / that hurled down to Hades many strong souls / of heroes and made their bodies meat for dogs / and vultures, fulfilling the plan of Zeus, / ever since that day those two quarreled— / inkosi...2012, Homer, translated by Richard Whitaker, The Iliad: A Southern African Translation

Forms of inkosi

pluralinkosis
pluralamakhosi
alternative forminkhosi

Origin of inkosi

Borrowed from Zulu ínkôsi (“chief, king”), from Proto-Bantu *nkócì (“lion”). Doublet of kgosi.

Questions about inkosi

What does inkosi mean?
Inkosi means a chief (particularly Zulu).
What part of speech is inkosi?
Inkosi is a noun.
What is the plural of inkosi?
The plural of inkosi is inkosis.

Words near inkosi in the dictionary

  1. inknotted
  2. inknotting
  3. Inkom
  4. inkoosi
  5. inkoosis
  6. inkosi
  7. inkosis
  8. inkpad
  9. inkpads
  10. Inkpen
  11. Inkpens

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: inkosi (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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