Standard Lemma guide

Xhosa

adj · noun · 7 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: /ˈkəʊ.sə/
  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈkɔː.sə/
  • General-American: /ˈkoʊ.sə/
  • General-American: /ˈkɔ.sə/
  • rhymes with -əʊsə
  • rhymes with -ɔːsə
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • CMU ARPABET: Z OW1 SH AH0 Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

adj

Meaning 1

Of or pertaining to the Xhosa people.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adj

Meaning 2

Of or pertaining to the Xhosa language.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

3

noun

Meaning 3

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

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: countable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

The language of these people, a Bantu language related to Zulu.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

5

noun

Meaning 5

a Bantu language closely related to Zulu

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: Nguni

6

noun

Meaning 6

a community of Negroid people in southern South Africa

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: community

7

noun

Meaning 7

a member of the Negroid people of southern South Africa

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: African

History

Etymology

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

Across languages

Translations

41 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Afrikaans: Xhosa — Xhosa language
  • Afrikaans: Khosa — Xhosa language
  • Albanian: gjuha Xhosa — Xhosa language
  • Arabic: الْكُوسِيَّة (al-kūsiyya) — Xhosa language
  • Breton: Xhosaeg — Xhosa language
  • Bulgarian: кхоса (khosa) — Xhosa language
  • Cherokee: ᏠᏌ (tlosa) — Xhosa language
  • Chinese Cantonese: 荷沙文 (ho4 saa1 man4) — Xhosa language
  • Chinese Mandarin: 科薩語 /科萨语 (Kēsà yǔ) — Xhosa language
  • Chuvash: коса чӗлхи (kos̬a č̬ĕlh̬i) — Xhosa language
  • Dutch: Xhosa — Xhosa language
  • Esperanto: kosa lingvo — Xhosa language
  • Finnish: xhosa — Xhosa language
  • French: xhosa — Xhosa language
  • Galician: xhosa — Xhosa language
  • Hebrew: קוֹסָה (kohsuh) — Xhosa language
  • Ido: Xosa-linguo — Xhosa language
  • Irish: Cóisis — Xhosa language
  • Italian: xhosa — Xhosa language
  • Japanese: コサ語 (kosa-go) — Xhosa language
  • Korean: 코사어 (kosa'eo) — Xhosa language
  • Limburgish: Xhosa — Xhosa language
  • Navajo: Xhosa Dineʼé bizaad — Xhosa language
  • Polish: xhosa — Xhosa language
  • Portuguese: xhosa — Xhosa language
  • Portuguese: xossa — Xhosa language
  • Russian: ко́са (kósa) — Xhosa language
  • Spanish: xhosa — Xhosa language
  • Swahili: Kixhosa — Xhosa language
  • Swedish: xhosa — Xhosa language
  • Xhosa: isiXhosa — Xhosa language
  • Zulu: isiXhosa — Xhosa language
  • Afrikaans: Xhosa — Xhosa people
  • Arabic: كُوسِيُّون (kūsiyyūn) — Xhosa people
  • Bengali: কোসা (kōśa) — Xhosa people
  • Esperanto: koso — Xhosa people
  • Esperanto: kosino — Xhosa people
  • French: Xhosa — Xhosa people
  • Swahili: Mxhosa — Xhosa people
  • Swedish: xhosa — Xhosa people
  • Xhosa: amaXhosa — Xhosa people