jeli
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.15 in modern English
11
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A member of the hereditary caste of griots among the Mandé peoples, whose social roles include transmitting their people's oral traditions and playing traditional music (jeliya).
Example Sentences
- "Jeliya (the art of the jeli) goes back to the thirteenth-century origins of the Mali empire, although the institution of the griot in West Africa probably stems from the earlier Ghana empire (also known as Wagadu), which declined in the late eleventh century."
Etymology
From Bambara jeli.
Word Breakdown
- Root: jeli