Word.ws English Dictionary

Ndebele

UK/(ə)ndəˈbeɪleɪ/

Ndebele noun: a person from South Africa.

Noun

Ndebele (plural Ndebeles or Ndebele)

  1. A person from South Africa.
  2. A person from Zimbabwe.
    • It's not relevant for the purpose of my discussion who got to Zimbabwe first between the Shonas and the Ndebeles.2015, Khoza Mduduzi, The West Stole Africa's Wealth
    • Furthermore, Britain's show of disapproval for Mugabe's Zanu-PF government during the land seizures was in conflict with its largely silent approach on the 1980s Gukurahundi conflict, in which Mugabe ordered the massacre of up to 20,000 Ndebele civilians.2009 June 17, Blessing-Miles Tendi, “Tsvangirai's dicey strategy”, in The Guardian

Proper noun

Ndebele

  1. Any of the languages spoken by these two peoples: Northern Ndebele and the not closely related Southern Ndebele.
    • And look, that’s you a few years later, holding up a package at a prize-giving ceremony — throughout primary you always came first in English and Ndebele class.2022, NoViolet Bulawayo, Glory, Chatto & Windus, page 191

Forms of Ndebele

pluralNdebeles
pluralNdebele

Phrases with Ndebele

Questions about Ndebele

What does Ndebele mean?
Ndebele means a person from South Africa.
What part of speech is Ndebele?
Ndebele can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce Ndebele?
Ndebele is pronounced /(ə)ndəˈbeɪleɪ/ (UK).
What is the plural of Ndebele?
The plural of Ndebele is Ndebeles.

Words near Ndebele in the dictionary

  1. NDC
  2. NDCC
  3. NDCs
  4. NDD
  5. NDE
  6. Ndebele
  7. Ndebeles
  8. NDEer
  9. NDEers
  10. Ndembu
  11. Ndembus

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Ndebele (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:

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