Gullah
//ˈɡʌl.ə// adj, name, noun
adj, name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A member of the Gullah culture.
Adjective
- 1 Pertaining to the Gullah language and culture. not-comparable
"The music of George Gershwin’s Porgie and Bess was inspired in part by Gullah "shouts"."
Proper Noun
- 1 A creole of English and various African languages spoken on a group of islands off the coast of the Carolinas and Georgia in the Southern United States.
"Gullah has been spoken continuously since before the Civil War."
- 2 The culture surrounding this language and geography.
Example
More examples"Tom is a native Gullah speaker."
Etymology
First attested in 1739 as a male black slave's proper name, of unclear origin. Traditionally linked by folk etymology to an apheresis of Angola (where many African slaves were carried from), or an apparent West African ethno-tribal group called the Gola people. See more at the Wikipedia article Gullah, including other theories.
Related phrases
More for "gullah"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.