assegai
/ˈæsəɡaɪ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.30 in modern English
8
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A slim hardwood spear or javelin with an iron tip, especially those used by Bantu peoples of Southern Africa.
verb
To spear with an assegai.
Example Sentences
- "But now the Moormen, stalking o'er the strand / to guard the wat'ery stores the strangers need; / this, targe on arm and assegai in hand, / that, with his bended bow, and venom'd reed[.]"
- "My client welcomed the judge […] and they disappeared together into the Ethiopian card-room, which was filled with the assegais and exclamation point shields Mr. Cooke had had made at the sawmill at Beaverton."
- "Native mats covered the clay walls; a collection of spears, assegais, shields, knives was hung up in trophies."
- "A birdchief, bluestreaked and feathered in war panoply with his assegai, striding through a crackling canebrake over beechmast and acorns."
- "Without a word, he took my foreskin, pulled it forward, and then, in a single motion, brought down his assegai."
- "In the clearing, built around the base of an assegai tree, stood a hut, plastered in cow dung."
Etymology
From French azagaie (now zagaie) or Portuguese azagaia, Spanish azagaya, and later in the forms that have become most common borrowed from Afrikaans assegaai, from colloquial Arabic اَلزَّغَايَة (az-zaḡāya), from Proto-Berber *zaġāya (“spear”).
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈæsəɡaɪ/
Inflected Forms
assegais (plural)
assagai (alternative, obsolete)
assagaie (alternative, obsolete)
assagay (alternative, obsolete)
assegaai (alternative, obsolete)
assegay (alternative, obsolete)
azagaia (alternative, obsolete)
hassagay (alternative, obsolete)
hassaguay (alternative, obsolete)
zagaie (alternative, obsolete)
zagaye (alternative, obsolete)
assegais (present, singular)
Frequently Paired Words
Curtisia