Definition

Noun: 1. A Chadic language: Hausa is the most widely spoken member of the Chadic language family, which is part of the larger Afroasiatic language phylum. It serves as a major lingua franca for trade and communication across West Africa. 2. A member of an ethnic group: A Hausa is a person belonging to a predominantly Muslim people of West Africa, whose traditional homeland is in northern Nigeria and southern Niger.

Examples

• Noun (Language):
  • She is learning Hausa to communicate with traders at the market.
  • Hausa is written using both the Latin and Arabic scripts.
• Noun (Ethnic group):
  • My neighbor is a Hausa from Kano State.
  • The Hausa have a rich tradition of oral history and poetry.

Advanced Usage

• The term can function attributively (like an adjective) to describe things related to the language or people.
  • She bought a beautiful Hausa textile. (Referring to the people/culture)
  • He listens to Hausa radio broadcasts daily. (Referring to the language)

Variants and Related Words

• Hausa language: A more explicit term for the language.
• Hausa people: A more explicit term for the ethnic group.
• Hausaland: The historical and cultural region primarily inhabited by the Hausa people.

Synonyms

• (For the language): There are no direct synonyms, but it can be described as a or a .
• (For the people): There are no direct synonyms as it is a specific ethnonym. Can be described generally as a .

Related Phrases

• Speak Hausa: The common verb collocation.
  • Do you speak Hausa?
• Hausa-Fulani: A common term referring to the historically integrated Hausa and Fulani communities in Nigeria.

Noun

1. the chief member of the Chadic family of Afroasiatic languages; widely used as a trading language
2. a member of a Negroid people living chiefly in northern Nigeria