Zande, n.

zande
http://www.oed.com/dictionary/zande_n%3Ftab%3Dmeaning_and_use
First published 1986; not fully revised

# Zandenoun

## Earlier version

- Zande in OED Second Edition (1989)

## 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?

About 0.1occurrences per million words in modern written English

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

/ˈzandiː/

### 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

1. zamindar, n. 1683–
2. zamindari, n. & adj. 1742–
3. zamindarship, n. 1698–1902
4. zamioid, adj. 1860–
5. zamorin, n. 1582–
6. zampino, n. 1881–
7. zampogna, n. 1740–
8. zampone, n. 1860–
9. zamzawed, adj. 1743–
10. Zamzummim, n. 1530–
11. Zande, n.1873–
12. zander, n. 1854–
13. zanella, n. 1876–
14. zanily, adv. 1936–
15. zaniness, n. 1933–
16. Zante, n. 1615–
17. Zantedeschia, n. 1836–
18. ZANU, n. 1963–
19. zany, n. & adj. 1582–
20. zany, v. 1602–1894
21. zanyish, adj. 1843–

## Etymology

### Summary

Probably a borrowing from Zande.
Probably a self-designation.

## Meaning & use

1. 1.
   1873–
   (A member of) a people of mixed ethnic origin inhabiting central Africa.
   1. 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
   2. 1884

      > The A-Zandey are to be regarded as rather of mixed Negroid than of pure Negro stock.

      Encyclopædia Britannica vol. XVII. 474/1
   3. 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
   4. 1918

      > The true Azande live in the Belgian Congo.

      R. G. C. Brock in Sudan Notes & Records October 249
   5. 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
   6. 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
   1. 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…
   2. Nubian c1450–
      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…
   3. Massylian 1606–
      A native or inhabitant of the part of North Africa formerly known as Numidia, corresponding roughly to modern-day Algeria. Cf. Numidian, n.
   4. catadupes 1607
      plural. The dwellers by the cataracts of the Nile.
   5. Mauritanian 1607–
      Now usually in form Mauretanian. A native or inhabitant of ancient Mauretania; a Moor. Now historical.
   6. Marmarican 1627
      An inhabitant of Marmarica.
   7. Niam-Niam 1861–
      = Zande, n.
   8. Watusi 1863–
      A member of an ethnic group forming a minority of the population of Rwanda and Burundi.
   9. Zande 1873–
      (A member of) a people of mixed ethnic origin inhabiting central Africa.
   10. Twa 1878–
       A member of a people, typically of short stature, inhabiting parts of Burundi, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Also attributive…
   11. Tutsi 1929–
       A member of an ethnic group forming a minority of the population of Rwanda and Burundi. Cf. Watusi, n.
   12. Cyrenaican 1942–
       Of or pertaining to the region of Cyrenaica in north Africa, or its people. Also as n.
   13. Ubangi 1953–
       (A member of) a group of peoples inhabiting the Ubangi region of Central Africa. Also attributive or as adj.
   14. Chadian 1960–
       A native or inhabitant of Chad.
   15. Saharan 1970–
       A member of a people living in the Sahara, spec. native to or inhabiting the former Spanish Sahara on the Atlantic coast.
   16. Sahrawi 1976–
       An inhabitant of Western (formerly Spanish) Sahara, a Saharan; also collective, the people itself. Also attributive.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. Nubian 1600–
      Of or relating to the region of Nubia, its inhabitants, or their languages.
   2. Somali 1809–
      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.
   3. Somal 1839–
      Of, belonging to, or relating to the Somal or their language. Cf. Somali, adj.
   4. Meroitic 1852–
      Of, belonging to, or characteristic of the ancient Nubian kingdom of Meroë in north-east Africa, its inhabitants, or their language. Cf. Meroite, adj.
   5. Watusi 1864–
      Of, belonging to, or relating to the Watusi.
   6. Zande 1873–
      (A member of) a people of mixed ethnic origin inhabiting central Africa.
   7. Somalian 1884–
      Of, belonging to, or relating to Somalia, its inhabitants, or their language. Cf. Somali, adj.
   8. Ubangi 1915–
      (A member of) a group of peoples inhabiting the Ubangi region of Central Africa. Also attributive or as adj.
   9. Twa 1951–
      A member of a people, typically of short stature, inhabiting parts of Burundi, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Also attributive…
   10. Tutsi 1952–
       Of, belonging to, or relating to the Tutsi.
   11. Chadian 1960–
       Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Chad or its people.
   12. Watusi 1960–
       A member of an ethnic group forming a minority of the population of Rwanda and Burundi.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
2. 2.
   1938–
   The language of this people.
   1. 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
   1. Negrish 1735–89
      Of or relating to a black person.
   2. Temne 1791–
      Of, pertaining to, or designating this people or their language.
   3. Nupe 1841–
      Of, relating to, or designating the Niger–Congo language spoken by the Nupe people.
   4. Efik 1846–
      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…
   5. Ebira 1854–
      Of or relating to the language of the Ebira, a member of the Niger-Congo language family; designating this language.
   6. Kikongo 1885–
      Designating a language or dialect, or a group of languages or dialects, spoken by the Kongo; of or relating to these languages or dialects.
   7. Edo 1910–
      The language of the Edo, a member of the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family.
   8. Dagbani 1917–
      Of or designating this language or its speakers. Cf. Mole–Dagbani, adj.
   9. Voltaic 1922–
      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…
   10. Ngbandi 1931–
       Of or relating to the Ngbandi or their language.
   11. Tiv 1934–
       Of or relating to the language of the Tiv, a member of the Benue-Congo family; designating this language.
   12. Zande 1938–
       The language of this people.
   13. Mandinka 1953–
       Of or belonging to the Mandinka or their language.
   14. Ngbaka 1955–
       Of or relating to the Ngbaka or their languages.
   15. Loma 1957–
       Of or pertaining to the Loma or their language.
   16. Mandekan 1968–
       = Manding, adj.
   17. Manding 1969–
       Of or relating to this group of peoples or to this language group.
   18. Malinke 1970–
       Of or relating to the Malinke or their language.
   19. Mende 1972–
       Of, relating to, or belonging to a people inhabiting south central Sierra Leone and Liberia in West Africa or their language.
   View in Historical Thesaurus
   1. Ngbandi 1931–
      Any of several Niger–Congo languages spoken by the Ngbandi. Cf. Sango, n.
   2. Zande 1938–
      The language of this people.
   3. Ngbaka 1939–
      Any of several Niger–Congo languages which belong to the Ubangi branch of Adamawa-Ubangi and are spoken by two peoples inhabiting parts of the…
   View in Historical Thesaurus

## Pronunciation

### British English

/ˈzandiː/

####

##### 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 /ˈpɛtl/ but /ˈpɛtl̩i/.

##### 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 data is computed programmatically, and should be regarded as an estimate.

### 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

1. 1884–
   General attributive as adj.
   1. 1884

      > The Zandey language..appears to be everywhere spoken with considerable uniformity.

      Encyclopædia Britannica vol. XVII. 474/1
   2. 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
   3. 1918

      > The Zande tribe.

      R. G. C. Brock in Sudan Notes & Records October 249
   4. 1918

      > The ordinary Zande dance is a very dull affair.

      R. G. C. Brock in Sudan Notes & Records October 257
   5. 1955

      > I find it difficult to see exactly how the Azande witchcraft charges work.

      M. Gluckman, Custom & Conflict in Africa iv. 90
   6. 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

Zande, n. was first published in 1986; not fully revised.

Zande, n. was last modified in December 2024.