Word.ws English Dictionary

Xhosa

Syllables: Xho·sa/ˈkəʊ.sə/US/ˈkoʊ.sə/

Xhosa noun: a member of a Bantu people from South Africa, most of whom live in the Eastern Cape.

Noun

Xhosa (plural Xhosas or Xhosa)

  1. A member of a Bantu people from South Africa, most of whom live in the Eastern Cape.
    • my father remained aloof from Christianity and instead reserved his own faith for the great spirit of the Xhosas, Qamata, the God of his fathers.1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, pages 14-15
    • In many Xhosa households, Wednesday is umngqusho day. It's the way we all grew up. Like Fridays in the Eastern Cape are always dumplings with meat day.2011, Xoliswa Ndoyiya, Ukutya Kwasekhaya: Tastes from Nelson Mandela's Kitchen, page 49

Proper noun

Xhosa

  1. The native language of the Xhosa people, a Bantu language related to Zulu.
    • “With the food packages that we drop off, we are adding messages in the local dialect of Xhosa, because this is predominately for the Xhosa areas,” Kolisi said.2020 April 28, Christina Macfarlane, “‘There is nothing worse than hunger,’ says South Africa hero Siya Kolisi of helping townships during lockdown”, in CNN

Adjective

Xhosa (comparative more Xhosa, superlative most Xhosa)

  1. Of or pertaining to the Xhosa people.
  2. Of or pertaining to the Xhosa language.

Xhosa meaning in Bengali and Arabic

Xhosa in Bengali

Xhosa people
কোসা kōśa

Xhosa in Arabic

Xhosa language
الْكُوسِيَّة al-kūsiyya
Xhosa people
كُوسِيُّون kūsiyyūn

Forms of Xhosa

Noun
pluralXhosas
pluralXhosa
Adjective
comparativemore Xhosa
superlativemost Xhosa

Origin of Xhosa

Borrowed from Xhosa (ísí)Xhosa (“Xhosa language”) and (úḿ)Xhosa (“Xhosa person”).

Phrases with Xhosa

Words that rhyme with Xhosa

Questions about Xhosa

What does Xhosa mean?
Xhosa means a member of a Bantu people from South Africa, most of whom live in the Eastern Cape.
What is Xhosa in Bengali?
Xhosa in Bengali is কোসা (kōśa). See Xhosa meaning in Bengali.
What part of speech is Xhosa?
Xhosa can be a noun, a proper noun or an adjective.
How do you pronounce Xhosa?
Xhosa is pronounced /ˈkəʊ.sə/ (UK).
What is the plural of Xhosa?
The plural of Xhosa is Xhosas.

Words near Xhosa in the dictionary

  1. XGP
  2. xhair
  3. xhamadan
  4. xhe
  5. Xhitter
  6. Xhosa
  7. Xhosa Wars
  8. Xhosan
  9. Xhosaness
  10. Xhosas
  11. XHR

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Xhosa (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)-Eleanorrrrrrrrrr-Xhosa.wav.

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