Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

bislama

/ˈbisləmaː/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables
bis-la-ma
IPA
/ˈbisləmaː/
11
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

name

A creole language spoken on the South Pacific island-nation of Vanuatu, derived from Indo-European (mainly from English) and Oceanic languages.

Etymology

Borrowed from Bislama Bislama, from French bêche-de-mer (“sea cucumber”), referring to sea cucumbers (trepang) that were harvested and dried alongside sandalwood gathering in the mid-19th century. The pidgin that developed among local labourers, traders, and English-speaking overseers became known by the name of this trade item. The term evolved from referring to the commodity to the trade language itself.

Origin

Word Breakdown

Regional Pronunciation

  • American English: /ˈbisləmaː/
  • British English: /ˈbɪʃləmɑː/

Inflected Forms

Beachlamar (alternative, dated) Beach-la-Mar (alternative, dated) Bichelama (alternative, dated) Bichelamar (alternative)

Phrases

Wiktionary’s coverage of Bislama terms

Frequently Paired Words

Wiktionary’s coverage of Bislama terms pidgin

Questions

How do you pronounce bislama?
The recorded pronunciation is /ˈbisləmaː/.
What does bislama mean?
A creole language spoken on the South Pacific island-nation of Vanuatu, derived from Indo-European (mainly from English) and Oceanic languages.
Where does bislama come from?
It is traced to French.

How to pronounce bislama

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “bislama”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈbisləmaː/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “bislama”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “bislama” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.