Wolof

noun

Wo·​lof ˈwō-ˌlȯf How to pronounce Wolof (audio)
: a Niger-Congo language of Senegambia

Examples of Wolof in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Migrants who’d survived similar journeys were extras on the film The majority of the film’s dialogue is in Wolof, a language Garrone does not speak. Catherine E. Shoichet, CNN, 7 Mar. 2024 The film is in French and Wolof with English subtitles. Peter Rainer, The Christian Science Monitor, 22 Feb. 2024 The vendors chatted with one another in Wolof, Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Chinese and more. Sarah Maslin Nir, New York Times, 2 Jan. 2024 And the word nyam, to eat, is thought to come from Wolof, a lingua franca in West Africa. Simon Romero Alejandro Cegarra, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2023 While studying Senegal’s rich flora in 1749, young French botanist Michel Adanson meets a young Wolof woman. Monitor Contributors, The Christian Science Monitor, 26 Sep. 2023 Help is harder to come by in French, Arabic, Wolof, Mandinka, or Fula—to say nothing of smaller languages and regional and ethnic dialects spoken by many African migrants. Eric Lach, The New Yorker, 13 Sep. 2023 Among the highest rates of genetic sharing between research participants and Catoctin individuals were people who identified as West Africa's Wolof and Mandinka peoples or Central Africa's Kongo people. Amaris Encinas, USA TODAY, 9 Aug. 2023 The new analysis also revealed that some of the individuals descended from the Wolof and Mandinka populations of West Africa and the Kongo people of Central Africa, per the Harvard statement. Margaret Osborne, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 Aug. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'Wolof.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Wolof, speaker of Wolof, the Wolof language

First Known Use

1823, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of Wolof was in 1823

Dictionary Entries Near Wolof

Cite this Entry

“Wolof.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Wolof. Accessed 18 Apr. 2024.

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