Zandenoun
Factsheet
What does the noun Zande mean?
There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the noun Zande. See ‘Meaning & use’ for definitions, usage, and quotation evidence.
Entry status
OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.
How common is the noun Zande?
| 1870 | 0.0068 |
| 1880 | 0.0089 |
| 1890 | 0.0079 |
| 1900 | 0.019 |
| 1910 | 0.041 |
| 1920 | 0.048 |
| 1930 | 0.077 |
| 1940 | 0.13 |
| 1950 | 0.15 |
| 1960 | 0.15 |
| 1970 | 0.16 |
| 1980 | 0.15 |
| 1990 | 0.12 |
| 2000 | 0.097 |
| 2010 | 0.092 |
How is the noun Zande pronounced?
British English
Where does the noun Zande come from?
Earliest known use
1870s
The earliest known use of the noun Zande is in the 1870s.
OED's earliest evidence for Zande is from 1873, in a translation by E. E. Frewer.
Zande is probably a borrowing from Zande.
Nearby entries
- zamindar, n.1683–
- zamindari, n. & adj.1742–
- zamindarship, n.1698–1902
- zamioid, adj.1860–
- zamorin, n.1582–
- zampino, n.1881–
- zampogna, n.1740–
- zampone, n.1860–
- zamzawed, adj.1743–
- Zamzummim, n.1530–
- Zande, n.1873–
- zander, n.1854–
- zanella, n.1876–
- zanily, adv.1936–
- zaniness, n.1933–
- Zante, n.1615–
- Zantedeschia, n.1836–
- ZANU, n.1963–
- zany, n. & adj.1582–
- zany, v.1602–1894
- zanyish, adj.1843–
Etymology
Summary
Meaning & use
- 1.1873–(A member of) a people of mixed ethnic origin inhabiting central Africa.
- 1873
As marks of nationality, all the ‘Zandey’ score themselves with three or four tattooed squares.
E. E. Frewer, translation of G. Schweinfurth, Heart of Africa vol. II. xiii. 6 - 1884
The A-Zandey are to be regarded as rather of mixed Negroid than of pure Negro stock.
Encyclopædia Britannica vol. XVII. 474/1 - 1902
The Zandehs proper..are now found to stretch, with interruptions, from the White Nile above the Sobat confluence to the Shari affluent of Lake Chad.
Encyclopædia Britannica vol. XXXI. 230/1 - 1918
The true Azande live in the Belgian Congo.
R. G. C. Brock in Sudan Notes & Records October 249 - 1918
The Azande are divided into different clans and most of these believe that they return to the earth in the form of some animal.
R. G. C. Brock in Sudan Notes & Records October 253 - 1955
If a Zande murdered a fellow-tribesman with his spear he was tried in court by his chief.
M. Gluckman, Custom & Conflict in Africa iv. 85
the world people nations native or inhabitant of Africa native or inhabitant of North Africa native or inhabitant of other regions [nouns]- Numidian?a1425–A native or inhabitant of Numidia, an ancient kingdom and later a Roman province, situated in North Africa in an area corresponding roughly to…
- Nubianc1450–A native or inhabitant of Nubia, a region and any of several former kingdoms in north-eastern Africa, or a descendant of such a person; †a slave…
- Massylian1606–A native or inhabitant of the part of North Africa formerly known as Numidia, corresponding roughly to modern-day Algeria. Cf. Numidian, n.
- catadupes1607plural. The dwellers by the cataracts of the Nile.
- Mauritanian1607–Now usually in form Mauretanian. A native or inhabitant of ancient Mauretania; a Moor. Now historical.
- Marmarican1627An inhabitant of Marmarica.
- Niam-Niam1861–= Zande, n.
- Watusi1863–A member of an ethnic group forming a minority of the population of Rwanda and Burundi.
- Zande1873–(A member of) a people of mixed ethnic origin inhabiting central Africa.
- Twa1878–A member of a people, typically of short stature, inhabiting parts of Burundi, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Also attributive…
- Tutsi1929–A member of an ethnic group forming a minority of the population of Rwanda and Burundi. Cf. Watusi, n.
- Cyrenaican1942–Of or pertaining to the region of Cyrenaica in north Africa, or its people. Also as n.
- Ubangi1953–(A member of) a group of peoples inhabiting the Ubangi region of Central Africa. Also attributive or as adj.
- Chadian1960–A native or inhabitant of Chad.
- Saharan1970–A member of a people living in the Sahara, spec. native to or inhabiting the former Spanish Sahara on the Atlantic coast.
- Sahrawi1976–An inhabitant of Western (formerly Spanish) Sahara, a Saharan; also collective, the people itself. Also attributive.
the world people nations native or inhabitant of Africa native or inhabitant of North Africa native or inhabitant of other regions [adjectives]- Nubian1600–Of or relating to the region of Nubia, its inhabitants, or their languages.
- Somali1809–Of, belonging to, or relating to the Somali or their language. Also: of, belonging to, or relating to Somalia or its inhabitants. Cf. Somalian, adj.
- Somal1839–Of, belonging to, or relating to the Somal or their language. Cf. Somali, adj.
- Meroitic1852–Of, belonging to, or characteristic of the ancient Nubian kingdom of Meroë in north-east Africa, its inhabitants, or their language. Cf. Meroite, adj.
- Watusi1864–Of, belonging to, or relating to the Watusi.
- Zande1873–(A member of) a people of mixed ethnic origin inhabiting central Africa.
- Somalian1884–Of, belonging to, or relating to Somalia, its inhabitants, or their language. Cf. Somali, adj.
- Ubangi1915–(A member of) a group of peoples inhabiting the Ubangi region of Central Africa. Also attributive or as adj.
- Twa1951–A member of a people, typically of short stature, inhabiting parts of Burundi, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Also attributive…
- Tutsi1952–Of, belonging to, or relating to the Tutsi.
- Chadian1960–Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Chad or its people.
- Watusi1960–A member of an ethnic group forming a minority of the population of Rwanda and Burundi.
- 2.1938–The language of this people.
- 1938
Zande... Spoken by perhaps 300,000 people in northeastern Belgian Congo, eastern French Equatorial Africa and southern Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.
Book Thousand Tongues (Amer. Bible Soc.) 353/2
- Negrish1735–89Of or relating to a black person.
- Temne1791–Of, pertaining to, or designating this people or their language.
- Nupe1841–Of, relating to, or designating the Niger–Congo language spoken by the Nupe people.
- Efik1846–Of or relating to the language of the Efik, a member of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family, spoken chiefly in southern…
- Ebira1854–Of or relating to the language of the Ebira, a member of the Niger-Congo language family; designating this language.
- Kikongo1885–Designating a language or dialect, or a group of languages or dialects, spoken by the Kongo; of or relating to these languages or dialects.
- Edo1910–The language of the Edo, a member of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family.
- Dagbani1917–Of or designating this language or its speakers. Cf. Mole–Dagbani, adj.
- Voltaic1922–Of, belonging to, or relating to a branch of the Niger–Congo family of languages, spoken in parts of West Africa and including Mooré and Dagbani…
- Ngbandi1931–Of or relating to the Ngbandi or their language.
- Tiv1934–Of or relating to the language of the Tiv, a member of the Benue-Congo family; designating this language.
- Zande1938–The language of this people.
- Mandinka1953–Of or belonging to the Mandinka or their language.
- Ngbaka1955–Of or relating to the Ngbaka or their languages.
- Loma1957–Of or pertaining to the Loma or their language.
- Mandekan1968–= Manding, adj.
- Manding1969–Of or relating to this group of peoples or to this language group.
- Malinke1970–Of or relating to the Malinke or their language.
- Mende1972–Of, relating to, or belonging to a people inhabiting south central Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa or their language.
Pronunciation
British English
Consonants
- ppea
- ttea
- kkey
- bbuy
- ddye
- ɡguy
- tʃchore
- dʒjay
- ffore
- θthaw
- ssore
- ʃshore
- vvee
- ðthee
- zzee
- ʒbeige
- xloch
- hhay
- llay
- ɬrhingyll
- rray
- wway
- jyore
- mmay
- nnay
- ŋsing
Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. Where necessary, a syllabic marker diacritic is used, hence
Vowels
- iːfleece
- ihappy
- ɪkit
- ɛdress
- atrap, bath
- ɑːstart, palm, bath
- ɒlot
- ɔːthought, force
- ʌstrut
- ʊfoot
- uːgoose
- əletter
- əːnurse
- ɪənear
- ɛːsquare
- ʊəcure
- eɪface
- ʌɪpride
- aʊmouth
- əʊgoat
- ɔɪvoice
- ãgratin
- ɒ̃salon
- ᵻ(/ɪ/-/ə/)
- ᵿ(/ʊ/-/ə/)
Other symbols
- The symbol ˈ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with primary stress.
- The symbol ˌ at the beginning of a syllable indicates that that syllable is pronounced with secondary stress.
- Round brackets ( ) in a transcription indicate that the symbol within the brackets is optional.
View the pronunciation model here.
Forms
Variant forms
Also 1800s Zandey; 1800s– Zandeh. Plural Zandes, Azande († A-Zande).Frequency
Zande typically occurs about 0.1 times per million words in modern written English.
Zande is in frequency band 4, which contains words occurring between 0.1 and 1 times per million words in modern written English. More about OED's frequency bands
Frequency of Zande, n., 1870–2010
* Occurrences per million words in written English
Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams (version 2), a data set based on the Google Books corpus of several million books printed in English between 1500 and 2010.
The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations.
For sets of homographs (distinct entries that share the same word-form, e.g. mole, n.¹, mole, n.², mole, n.³, etc.), we have estimated the frequency of each homograph entry as a fraction of the total Ngrams frequency for the word-form. This may result in inaccuracies.
Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm. This reduces short-term fluctuations, which may be produced by variability in the content of the Google Books corpus.
| Decade | Frequency per million words |
|---|---|
| 1870 | 0.0068 |
| 1880 | 0.0089 |
| 1890 | 0.0079 |
| 1900 | 0.019 |
| 1910 | 0.041 |
| 1920 | 0.048 |
| 1930 | 0.077 |
| 1940 | 0.13 |
| 1950 | 0.15 |
| 1960 | 0.15 |
| 1970 | 0.16 |
| 1980 | 0.15 |
| 1990 | 0.12 |
| 2000 | 0.097 |
| 2010 | 0.092 |
Compounds & derived words
- 1884–General attributive as adj.
- 1884
The Zandey language..appears to be everywhere spoken with considerable uniformity.
Encyclopædia Britannica vol. XVII. 474/1 - 1891
The hair, arranged Zandeh-fashion, though somewhat carelessly, in tresses, projected under a tarbush round the occiput.
A. H. Keane, translation of W. Junker, Travels in Africa vol. II. iv. 102 - 1918
The Zande tribe.
R. G. C. Brock in Sudan Notes & Records October 249 - 1918
The ordinary Zande dance is a very dull affair.
R. G. C. Brock in Sudan Notes & Records October 257 - 1955
I find it difficult to see exactly how the Azande witchcraft charges work.
M. Gluckman, Custom & Conflict in Africa iv. 90 - 1978
Winch's account of the meaning of Zande magic is ultimately not at all unlike that which some symbolist writers might give.
J. Skorupski in Hookway & Pettit, Action & Interpretation 85