Word.ws English Dictionary

Somali

Syllables: So·ma·li/səˈmɑːli/US/soʊˈmɑːli/

Somali proper noun: a Cushitic language spoken mainly in Somalia, eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti, and eastern Kenya.

somali: a Cushitic language spoken mainly in Somalia, eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti, and eastern Kenya
Image: Julia Shepeleva, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Proper noun

Somali

  1. (uncountable) A Cushitic language spoken mainly in Somalia, eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti, and eastern Kenya.
    • Somali is the primary language of Somalia
  2. (uncountable) Somali language and literature as an object of study.
    • I'm learning Somali.

Noun

Somali (countable and uncountable, plural Somali or Somalis)

  1. (collective, countable) An ethnic group native to the Somali Peninsula; a Somali, a group of Somalis, the Somalis.
    • Historically, Somalis were a nomadic people herding camels, goats, and sheep. Nowadays, many if not most Somalis are urbanized people.
    • Authorized by the court to engage in racial profiling, masked federal agents continue to descend upon “Democrat-run” cities, subjecting Latinos and now Somalis to ongoing abuse.2025 December 19, Ryan Doerfler, Samuel Moyn, “It’s time to accept that the US supreme court is illegitimate and must be replaced”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 19 Dec 2025
  2. (collective, in plural, uncountable) The Somali ethnic group as a whole; the Somali.
    • The Somali are an ethnic group of Cushitic origin indigenous to the Somali Peninsula. Their language is called Somali.
  3. (collective, countable) A citizen or resident from the country of Somalia.
  4. (collective, countable) A person from a Somali-majority republic, state, or region, including but not limited to: the Republic of Somaliland, the Somali region of Ethiopia (often called the Ogaden, but more neutrally the Somali region), or autonomous states within Somalia's federal system such as Puntland.
  5. A domestic cat breed derived from the Abyssinian cat.

Adjective

Somali (not comparable)

  1. Of, from, or pertaining to Somalia, the Somali people or language.

Somali meaning in Hindi, Marathi, Bengali and Gujarati

Somali in Hindi

a language
सोमाली somālī
a person from Somalia or of Somali descent
सुमाली sumālī

Somali in Marathi

a language
सोमाली somālī
a person from Somalia or of Somali descent
सोमाली somālī
pertaining to Somalia
सोमाली somālī

Somali in Bengali

সোমালি

Somali in Gujarati

a language
સોમાલી somālī
More languagesFewer languages
Somali in Arabic
صُومَالِيَّة ṣomāliyya, صُومَالِيّ ṣomāliyy
Somali in Thai
ภาษาโซมาลี paasăa sohmaalee

Synonyms of Somali

All synonyms of Somali

Forms of Somali

pluralSomali
pluralSomalis

Origin of Somali

From or akin to Somali Soomaali.

Words formed from Somali

Phrases with Somali

Questions about Somali

What does Somali mean?
Somali means a Cushitic language spoken mainly in Somalia, eastern Ethiopia, Djibouti, and eastern Kenya.
What is Somali in Hindi?
Somali in Hindi is सोमाली (somālī), सुमाली (sumālī). See Somali meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is Somali?
Somali can be a proper noun, a noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce Somali?
Somali is pronounced /səˈmɑːli/ (UK).

Words near Somali in the dictionary

  1. somaj
  2. somajes
  3. somajs
  4. somal
  5. Somal-
  6. Somali
  7. Somali Coast Protectorate
  8. Somali crow
  9. Somali crows
  10. Somali giraffe
  11. Somali giraffes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Somali (page history and authors); Somali (Bengali Wiktionary) (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: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Somali.wav.

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