Standard Lemma guide

motlopi

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /məʊˈtləʊpi/
  • Received-Pronunciation: [məʊt̚ˈləʊpi]
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /moʊˈtloʊpi/
  • General-American: [moʊʔˈloʊpi]

1

noun

Meaning 1

The shepherd tree or shepherd's tree (Boscia albitrunca), an evergreen tree native to southern and tropical Africa which is one of the most important forage trees of the Kalahari.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: matoppie, witgat

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Tswana motlopi. The word is cognate with Afrikaans matoppie, Northern Sotho mohlopi, Sotho mohlopi, Venda muṱhobi.

Across languages

Translations

9 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: matoppie — Boscia albitrunca
  • Afrikaans: witgat — Boscia albitrunca
  • Afrikaans: witgatboom — Boscia albitrunca
  • Northern Sotho: mohlopi — Boscia albitrunca
  • Sotho: mohlopi — Boscia albitrunca
  • Tswana: motlopi — Boscia albitrunca
  • Venda: muṱhobi — Boscia albitrunca
  • Xhosa: umgqomogqomo — Boscia albitrunca
  • Zulu: umvithi — Boscia albitrunca