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
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The film was shot in Wolof, Senegal’s lingua franca, which Diop herself labored to understand. Julian Lucas, The New Yorker, 24 Oct. 2024 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

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 1 Dec. 2024.

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