Standard Lemma guide

ubuntu

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.

  • /ʊˈbʊntuː/
  • Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: UW2 B UW1 T UW2 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A Nguni Bantu ideology focusing on people's allegiances and relations with each other.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: South-Africa, uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Bantu *bʊ̀ntʊ̀ Zulu ubúntubor. Proto-Bantu *bʊ̀ntʊ̀ Xhosa úbúntubor. English ubuntu Loanword from Zulu ubuntu (“humanity”) and Xhosa ubuntu (“humaneness, solidarity”).

Across languages

Translations

13 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Chichewa: umunthu — ubuntu
  • Chinese Mandarin: 烏班圖 /乌班图 (wūbāntú) — ubuntu
  • Nyoro: obuntu — ubuntu
  • Polish: ubuntu — ubuntu
  • Portuguese: ubuntu — ubuntu
  • Russian: общинность (obščinnostʹ) — ubuntu
  • Russian: соборность (sobornostʹ) — ubuntu
  • Rwanda-Rundi: ubuntu — ubuntu
  • Shona: unhu — ubuntu
  • Swahili: utu — ubuntu
  • Tswana: botho — ubuntu
  • Xhosa: ubuntu — ubuntu
  • Zulu: ubuntu — ubuntu