What does "hottentot" mean?
A member of the Khoekhoe group of peoples.
Hottentot
name, noun
name, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A member of the Khoekhoe group of peoples.
- Grammar: hottentot is listed as name, noun.
- Nearest alternatives: khoikhoi, khoikhoi language, derogatory term, english.
- Useful contrasts: foreign, indigenous, neutral label.
- Usage evidence: 1798-1801, Lady Ann Barnard, Letters and Journals I was told that the Hottentots were uncommonly ugly and disgusting, but I do not think them so bad. Their features are small and their cheekbones immense, but they have a kind expression and countenance.
How to use "hottentot"
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- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "hottentot" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
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- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "hottentot" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "hottentot" as the right word for your sentence.
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Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "hottentot" is acting as name, noun in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "khoikhoi" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
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Final meaning check
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When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A member of the Khoekhoe group of peoples. archaic, offensive
"1798-1801, Lady Ann Barnard, Letters and Journals I was told that the Hottentots were uncommonly ugly and disgusting, but I do not think them so bad. Their features are small and their cheekbones immense, but they have a kind expression and countenance."
- 2 Any of several fish of the genus Pachymetopon, in the family Sparidae.
- 3 any of the Khoisan languages spoken by the pastoral people of Namibia and South Africa wordnet
- 4 A member of the broader Khoisan group of peoples. archaic, broadly, offensive
"The Hottentots (Khoisan peoples) once an independent nation but whose simple tribal system had disintegrated rapidly as they were relentlessly displaced from their traditional grazing grounds and driven deep into the still uninhabited interior […]"
Proper Noun
- 1 The language of the Khoekhoe, remarkable for its clicks.
"Ive tried her with every […] possible sort of sound that a human being can make— […] Continental dialects, African dialects, Hottentot […] clicks, things it took me years to get hold of; and […] she picks them up like a shot, right away, as if she had […] been at it all her life."
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"1798-1801, Lady Ann Barnard, Letters and Journals I was told that the Hottentots were uncommonly ugly and disgusting, but I do not think them so bad. Their features are small and their cheekbones immense, but they have a kind expression and countenance."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "hottentot"?
Common synonyms include: khoikhoi, khoikhoi language, derogatory term, english, hottentot language, khoikhoin.
How do you use "hottentot" in a sentence?
1798-1801, Lady Ann Barnard, Letters and Journals I was told that the Hottentots were uncommonly ugly and disgusting, but I do not think them so bad. Their features are small and their cheekbones immense, but they have a kind expression and countenance.
Etymology
Borrowed from Dutch Hottentot, its first known use in Dutch being in the 1650s. The third edition of the Oxford English Dictionary concluded in 2008 that hottentot came into English in the seventeenth century. But it finds that no definitive etymology of Dutch hottentot can so far be given: A very large number of different etymologies for the name have been suggested ... The most frequently repeated suggestion ... is that the word was a spec. use of a formally identical Dutch word meaning ‘stammerer, stutterer’, which came to be applied to the Khoekhoe and San people on account of the clicks characteristic of their languages. However, evidence for the earlier general use appears to be lacking. Another frequent suggestion is that the people were so named after one or more words which early European visitors to southern Africa heard in chants accompanying dances of the Khoekhoe or San ... but the alleged chant is rendered in different ways in different 17th-cent. sources, and some of the accounts may be based on hearsay rather than first-hand knowledge. It does seem clear, however, that hottentot was an exonym, that is, not the Khoikhoi's own name for themselves but rather a foreign term applied to them.