Yoruba

proper noun

Pronunciation: /ˈjɒɹʊbə/ / /ˈjɔːɹəbə/

Etymology: Etymology tree Yoruba Yorùbábor. English Yoruba Borrowed from Yoruba Yorùbá.

A sub-Saharan language. It belongs to the Benue-Congo branch of the Niger-Congo language family, and has nearly 40 million speakers in Nigeria, Benin, Togo, and Sierra Leone, as well as communities in The United States, Brazil and Cuba.
“In the parlour, she could hear Aunty Biola attempting to teach her father Yoruba, collapsing into helpless giggles whenever he mispronounced his vowels, giving them the flat English sound instead of lifting them upwards with the slight outward puff of breath that was required.”
“Comparative wordlists of two dialects of Yoruba with Igala.”
An African traditional religion which spawned various offshoots in the Americas in the 15th to 19th centuries, including santería and Lucumí. (See Yoruba religion.)
“The Yoruba practitioner describes it as a condition where a man's semen will flow out of the vagina before fertilization can take place.”
“The Yoruba practitioner has no difficulty in knowing the difference between what we have classified as magic, medicine or sorcery.”

Etymology: Etymology tree Yoruba Yorùbábor. English Yoruba Borrowed from Yoruba Yorùbá.

A member of an ethnic group or tribe living mainly in southwest Nigeria, southern Benin, and eastern Togo and, as well as in communities elsewhere in West Africa, United States, Brazil and Cuba.
“Approximately 40 percent of Yorubas in Nigeria are Muslim and 60 percent are Christian. […] Its members express a strong preference for being among Yorubas during their worship service: “Since I am a Yoruba and we Yorubas have our own Church. . . ."”