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Zulu

isiZulu

Zulu is an Atlantic-Congo language spoken in South Africa, Lesotho, Eswatini, and Mozambique, by about 12.1 million people.

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Zulu · 28.9°S 30.2°E

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Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa, one of the country’s twelve official languages (South African Sign Language became the twelfth in 2023). Its clicks were borrowed from the Khoisan languages of southern Africa.

Zulu ( ZOO-loo), also known by its endonym isiZulu, is a Southern Bantu language of the Nguni branch spoken in, and indigenous to, Southern Africa with about 13.56 million native speakers, who primarily inhabit the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa (24% of the population), and it is understood by over 50% of its population. It became one of South Africa's 12 official languages in 1994.

According to Ethnologue, it is the second-most widely spoken of the Bantu languages, after Swahili. Like many other Bantu languages, it is written with the Latin alphabet.

In South African English, the language is often referred to in its native form, isiZulu.

From Wikipedia · Zulu language · CC BY-SA 4.0

Written down

Bonke abantu bazalwa bekhululekile belingana ngesithunzi nangamalungelo. Bahlanganiswe wumcabango nangunembeza futhi kufanele baphathane ngomoya wobunye.

Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR in Unicode).

Words in Zulu

MeaningWordRomanization
childumntwana
manumlisa
womanumfazi
personumuntu
nameigama
friendumngane
eyeiso
earindlebe
noseikhala
toothizinyo
handisandla
heartinhliziyo
headikhanda
bloodigazi
boneithambo
skininyama
kneeidolo
breastibele
liverisibindi
wateramanzi
fireumlilo
sunilanga
mooninyanga
starimbasa
skyisibhakabhaka
rainimvula
snowiqhwa
windumoya
stoneitshe
mountainintaba

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Vocabulary

Vocabulary compares 40 basic words (ASJP); grammar compares 195 features (Grambank). Similar is not always related.

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Glottolog · zulu1248 · Wikipedia (English) · Ethnologue · zul