mzungu

/(ə)mˈzʊnɡuː/

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.46 in modern English

Scrabble Score

Letters

Syllables

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

"I have given my daughter to an mzungu, and he says he will make her like the wives of the white men."
"suspicion about an mzungu wanting a copy of the country's constitution"

Etymology tree Common Bantu *mʊ̀díʊ́ngʊ̀der. Swahili mzungubor. English mzungu Borrowed from Swahili mzungu, from Common Bantu *mʊ̀díʊ́ngʊ̀.

mzungus (plural) wazungu (plural) muzungu (alternative) umuzungu (alternative)

mzungu time

Questions

How do you pronounce mzungu?

The recorded pronunciation is /(ə)mˈzʊnɡuː/.

What does mzungu mean?

A white person.

Where does mzungu come from?

Etymology tree Common Bantu *mʊ̀díʊ́ngʊ̀der. Swahili mzungubor. English mzungu Borrowed from Swahili mzungu, from Common Bantu *mʊ̀díʊ́ngʊ̀.

How to pronounce mzungu

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “mzungu”.

Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/(ə)mˈzʊnɡuː/) so you know which sounds to aim for.

Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “mzungu”.

Repeat and practice — Say “mzungu” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.