sangoma
Syllables: san·go·maUK/sæŋˈɡəʊmə//sæŋˈɡoʊmə/
sangoma noun: a (usually female) traditional healer or herbalist, or witch doctor.
Noun
sangoma (plural sangomas)
- A (usually female) traditional healer or herbalist, or witch doctor.
- The Natal Zulu believes in witchcraft, prophesy, love philtres, and such like. He is firmly fixed in his mind that the witch doctors and sangomas (female diviners) have power to bring rain, to trace spells of witchcraft, to heal by incantation, and to perform sundry other wonders and miracles.1895, J. Forsyth Ingram, “Section III. People, Language, Government, and Settlements”, in The Colony of Natal: An Official Illustrated Handbook and Railway Guide, London: […] Sir Joseph Causton and...
- Sangoma is a type of healer rare in the surveyed area, but seems to be more common in other parts of Botswana. [...] In the majority of cases the Sangoma is a female, but some male Disangoma are found. The Sangoma would often, as a young person during a severe illness, be 'called' by the Badimo...1986, Frants Staugard, “Traditional Health Care in Botswana”, in Murray Last, G[ordon] L[loyd] Chavunduka, editors, The Professionalisation of African Medicine (International African Studies; 1)...
- Synonyms:
- isangoma
Examples of sangoma in a sentence
- Sangomas nowadays tend to have at least two or three, and at times as many as fifteen or more, spirits that guide and assist them in their healing practice.1989, Edward C. Green, “Mystical Black Power: The Calling to Diviner-mediumship in Southern Africa”, in Carol Shepherd McClain, editor...
- This case also attracted a large crowd – not to see me, but to find out whether the white man's laws could be applied to a sangoma.1994, Nelson Mandela, chapter 16, in Long Walk to Freedom, London: Abacus, published 2010, →ISBN, page 176:
- The antidote for zombies requires that sangomas reunite the zomboid spirits with their bodies.2003, Brett Bailey, “The Horror! The Horror!”, in The Plays of Miracle & Wonder: Bewitching Visions and Primal High-jinx from the South...
Synonyms of sangoma
Forms of sangoma
| plural | sangomas |
|---|
Origin of sangoma
Borrowed from Zulu isángoma (“diviner, witch doctor, sangoma”), possibly from i- + sa- (prefix meaning ‘of’) + íngoma (“dance song performed at a festival; hymn”). The English word is cognate with Afrikaans sangoma, Swazi sángoma.
Words that rhyme with sangoma
Questions about sangoma
- What does sangoma mean?
- Sangoma means a (usually female) traditional healer or herbalist, or witch doctor.
- How do you use sangoma in a sentence?
- Sangomas nowadays tend to have at least two or three, and at times as many as fifteen or more, spirits that guide and assist them in their healing practice.
- What part of speech is sangoma?
- Sangoma is a noun.
- How do you pronounce sangoma?
- Sangoma is pronounced /sæŋˈɡəʊmə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of sangoma?
- The plural of sangoma is sangomas.
Words near sangoma in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: sangoma (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-sangoma.mp3.
Cite this entry: “sangoma.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sangoma. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.