Xhosa
isiXhosa
Xhosa is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken in South Africa, Lesotho, and Botswana, by about 8.2 million people.
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Xhosa has three series of clicks, written c, q and x — the name Xhosa itself begins with one. Bantu languages borrowed these sounds from the Khoisan languages of southern Africa.
Xhosa ( KOH-sə, Xhosa: [ᵏǁʰôːsa] ), formerly spelled Xosa and also known by its endonym isiXhosa, is a Bantu language, indigenous to Southern Africa and one of the official languages of South Africa and Zimbabwe.
Xhosa is spoken as a first language by approximately 8 million people and as a second language in South Africa, particularly in Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Northern Cape and Gauteng, and also in parts of Zimbabwe and Lesotho. It has perhaps the heaviest functional load of click consonants in a Bantu language (approximately tied with Yeyi), with one count finding that 10% of basic vocabulary items contained a click.
From Wikipedia · Xhosa language · CC BY-SA 4.0
Written down
Bonke abantu bazalwa bekhululekile belingana ngesidima nangokweemfanelo. Bonke abantu banesiphiwo sesazela nesizathu sokwenza isenzo ongathanda ukuba senziwe kumzalwane wakho.
Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR in Unicode).
Words in Xhosa
| Meaning | Word | Romanization |
|---|---|---|
| mother | mama | |
| father | ubawo | |
| child | umntwana | |
| man | indoda | |
| woman | umfazi | |
| name | ifani | |
| friend | umhlobo | |
| eye | iliso | |
| ear | indlebe | |
| tooth | izinyo | |
| hand | isandla | |
| heart | intliziyo | |
| head | intloko | |
| blood | igazi | |
| knee | idolo | |
| breast | ibele | |
| liver | isibindi | |
| water | amanzi | |
| fire | umlilo | |
| sun | ilanga | |
| moon | inyanga | |
| star | inkwenkwezi | |
| sky | isibhakabhaka | |
| rain | imvula | |
| snow | ikhephu | |
| wind | umoya | |
| mountain | intaba | |
| river | umlambo | |
| sea | ulwandle | |
| tree | umthi |
Most similar languages
Vocabulary
Vocabulary compares 40 basic words (ASJP); grammar compares 195 features (Grambank). Similar is not always related.
Nearby languages
Elsewhere
Glottolog · xhos1239 · Wikipedia (English) · Ethnologue · xho