habesha
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.35 in modern English
15
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
5
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
a member of a Semitic-speaking ethnic group, of Christian faith, between the Blue Nile and the Red Sea (whether Amhara, Tigrayan or Tigrinya)
name
the region of Ethiopia and Eritrea, particularly as inhabited by Semitic-speaking Christians
Example Sentences
- "Portugal, the first power to circumnavigate Africa and enter the Indian Ocean, displayed primary interest in this potential ally of the West and sent a representative to Ethiopia in 1493; the Habesha, in turn, sent an envoy to Portugal in 1509 to request a coordinated attack on the Muslims."
- "Some of these people became known as the Habesha. Abyssinia – an ancient name for Ethiopia that is still sometimes used – is thought to have evolved from the name Habesha."
- "Ethiopia ኢትዮጵያ / Habesha አበሻ. The outside world has at times referred to Ethiopia and Ethiopians as Habesha or Abyssinia and Abyssinians."
Etymology
From Tigrinya ሓበሻ (ḥabäša) or Amharic ሐበሻ (ḥäbäša) (also attested in many other variants: ሀበሻ (häbäša), ሃበሻ (habäša), ሀቢሻ (häbiša), አበሻ (ʾäbäša)), from Ge'ez ሓበሠት (ḥabäśät), ሓበሥ (ḥabäś), from earlier inscriptional and unvocalized Ge'ez ሐበሠተ (ḤBŚT) as attested in at least one 4th-century inscription from the Kingdom of Aksum.
Word Breakdown
- Root: ሓበሻ, ሐበሻ, ሓበሠት
Inflected Forms
Habeshas (plural)
Habeshah (alternative)