Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

lobola

/ˈləʊbələ/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.34 in modern English

Syllables: lobo-la
IPA: /ˈləʊbələ/

8

Scrabble Score

6

Letters

2

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The bride price among certain Bantu peoples of South Africa.

Countable; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"The cattle of the second kaffir had been obtained from the first kaffir as lobola; all (three) have died from the disease."
"Some must give up their ground for trees, and some for pastures. And hardest of all would be the custom of lobola, by which a man pays for his wife in cattle, for people kept too many cattle for this purpose, and counted all their wealth in cattle, so that the grass had no chance to recover."
"All the money he'd brought with him had gone into lobola – the dowry for a wife […]."
"My sister Baliwe, who was older than Mabel, had been engaged to be married, and lobola had already been paid."

Etymology

From Xhosa lobola, Zulu lobola (“pay dowry”).

Regional Pronunciation

British English: /ˈləʊbələ/

Usage

Inflected Forms

lobolas (plural)

Frequently Paired Words

dower mahr

Antonyms

dowry

Questions

How do you pronounce lobola?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈləʊbələ/.
What does lobola mean?: The bride price among certain Bantu peoples of South Africa.
Where does lobola come from?: From Xhosa lobola, Zulu lobola (“pay dowry”).

How to pronounce lobola

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