Zulu

See also: zülu, ZULU, zulu, zulú, zulù, żulu, žulu, and Żulu

Translingual

Zulu (sense 1)
Zulu (sense 2)
Zulu (sense 3)

Alternative forms

• zulu, ZULU

Etymology

Etymology tree

Zulu umu-

Proto-Bantu *ʊ́-

Zulu ú-

Proto-Bantu *ìgʊ̀dʊ̀

Zulu ī́zulu

Zulu úZulu

Zulu uḿZuluder.

English Zulubor.

Translingual Zulu

Borrowed from English Zulu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈzulu]

Noun

Zulu

2. (international standards) NATO, ICAO, ITU & IMO radiotelephony clear code (spelling-alphabet name) for the letter Z.
4. (nautical) Signal flag for the letter Z.
6. (time zone) Coordinated Universal Time (UTC+00:00)

ICAO/NATO radiotelephonic clear codes

Alfa

Bravo

Charlie

Delta

Echo

Foxtrot

Golf

Hotel

India

Juliett

Kilo

Lima

Mike

November

Oscar

Papa

Quebec

Romeo

Sierra

Tango

Uniform

Victor

Whiskey

Xray

Yankee

Zulu

zero

one

two

three (tree)

four (fower)

five (fife)

six

seven

eight

nine (niner)

hundred

thousand

decimal

Translations

the letter "Z" in a national spelling alphabet

• Bulgarian: Зулу (Zulu)
• Czech: Zuzana (cs)
• English: Zebra
• Estonian: Zürich (et)
• Finnish: tseta (fi)
• Italian: Zara
• Polish: zulu (pl) n
• Swedish: Zäta (sv)

English

Alternative forms

• Zooloo (obsolete)

Etymology

Etymology tree

Zulu umu-

Proto-Bantu *ʊ́-

Zulu ú-

Proto-Bantu *ìgʊ̀dʊ̀

Zulu ī́zulu

Zulu úZulu

Zulu uḿZuluder.

English Zulu

Derived from Zulu uḿZulu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzuːluː/

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːluː

Noun

Zulu (countable and uncountable, plural Zulu or Zulus)

1. A member of an African ethnic group living mainly in the KwaZulu-Natal Province in eastern South Africa.
2. (UK, slang, dated, ethnic slur) Any black person.
4. Time along the prime meridian; UTC; Zulu time.

   Noon MST is 19:00 Zulu.

Hypernyms

• (member of the Zulu people): human, individual
• (Zulu time): time zone

Derived terms

• Zuludom
• Zuluise
• Zuluize
• Zululand
• Zuluness

Related terms

• Bravo Zulu

Translations

member of the Zulu people

• Afrikaans: Zoeloe (af)
• Catalan: zulu (ca)
• Dutch: Zoeloe (nl) m
• Finnish: zulu (fi)
• French: Zoulou (fr) m, Zouloue (fr) f
• Galician: zulú (gl)
• German: Zulu (de) m or f
• Greek: Ζουλού (el) (Zouloú)
• Italian: zulù (it) m or f
• Japanese: ズールー人 (ja) (zūrū-jin)
• Manx: Sooloo m
• Polish: Zulus (pl) m, Zuluska f
• Portuguese: zulu (pt)
• Russian: зулу́с (ru) m (zulús)
• Swahili: Mzulu
• Yiddish: זולו m (zulu)
• Zulu: umZulu class 1/6

Zulu people (plural)

• Afrikaans: Zoeloe (af)
• Bulgarian: зулуси (zulusi)
• Catalan: zulu (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 祖魯族人 / 祖鲁族人 (Zǔlǔ zúrén), 祖鲁人 (zh) (zǔlǔrén)

• Danish: Zulu
• Dutch: Zoeloes (nl) pl
• Finnish: zulut pl
• French: Zoulous (fr) m pl
• Galician: zulú (gl)
• German: Zulu (de) m pl, Zulus (de) m pl
• Italian: zulù (it) m or f
• Japanese: ズールー族 (zūrū-zoku)
• Polish: Zulusi vir pl
• Portuguese: zulu (pt)
• Zulu: amaZulu class 6

Zulu time

• Finnish: UTC (fi)
• Polish: Zulu (pl) n

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Gujarati: ^{(please verify)} ઝૂલૂ (jhūlū)
• Hindi: ^{(please verify)} ज़ूलू (hi) (zūlū)
• Interlingua: ^{(please verify)} Zulu

Proper noun

Zulu

1. The language of these people, a Bantu language; isiZulu.

   Synonym: isiZulu

   • 2017 April 5, Emily Dreyfuss, “That Cool Dialect on The Expanse Mashes Up 6 Languages”, in WIRED‎^[1], archived from the original on 25 January 2022:

     If he puts in a Zulu word, that means there are Zulu people in the Belt.

   • 2019 December 22, Annalee Newitz and Cyrus Farivar, “Nick Farmer knows dozens of languages, so he invented one for The Expanse”, in Ars Technica‎^[2]:

     The resulting Belter creole is a crazy mix of English, Chinese, romance languages like French, German, Persian, Hebrew, Zulu, and a few other surprises. Farmer says he has over 1,000 Belter words in his personal dictionary, and he keeps adding more as the show’s producers and fans request them.

Translations

language

• Afrikaans: Zoeloe (af)
• Armenian: զուլու (hy) (zulu), զուլուերեն (hy) (zulueren)
• Bulgarian: зулуски (zuluski)
• Catalan: zulu (ca) m
• Cherokee: ᏑᎷ (sulu)
• Chichewa: Chizulu
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 祖魯語 / 祖鲁语 (zh) (Zǔlǔyǔ)

• Dutch: Zoeloe (nl) n
• Estonian: suulu
• Faroese: sulu n
• Finnish: zulu (fi)
• French: zoulou (fr) m
• Galician: zulú (gl)
• German: Zulu (de) n, Zulusprache f, Zuluisch n, isiZulu (de) n
• Icelandic: súlú
• Italian: zulù (it) m
• Japanese: ズールー語 (ja) (zūrū-go)
• Maltese: Żulu
• Navajo: Zulu Dineʼé bizaad
• Polish: zulu (pl) n
• Portuguese: zulu (pt)
• Russian: зу́лу (ru) m (zúlu), зулу́сский (ru) m (zulússkij)
• Swahili: Kizulu (sw)
• Swedish: zulu (sv) c
• Yiddish: זולו n (zulu)
• Zulu: isiZulu (zu) class 7

Adjective

Zulu (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to the Zulu people, culture, or language.
   • 2017 April 5, Emily Dreyfuss, “That Cool Dialect on The Expanse Mashes Up 6 Languages”, in WIRED‎^[3], archived from the original on 25 January 2022:

     If he puts in a Zulu word, that means there are Zulu people in the Belt.

Translations

pertaining to the Zulu people, culture, or language

• Catalan: zulu (ca)
• Dutch: Zoeloe (nl)
• Estonian: suulu
• Faroese: sulu n
• French: zoulou (fr)
• Galician: zulú (gl)
• German: Zulu-, zulu-, zuluisch
• Greek: Ζουλού (el) (Zouloú)
• Italian: zulù (it)
• Polish: zuluski (pl)
• Portuguese: zulu (pt)
• Russian: зулу́сский (ru) (zulússkij)
• Spanish: zulú (es)
• Swahili: Kizulu (sw)
• Turkish: Zuluca (tr)

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Zulu terms
• Appendix:Zulu Swadesh list for a Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words in Zulu
• ISO 639-1 code zu, ISO 639-3 code zul (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Zulu, zul ⁠

References

• (black person): Tony Thorne (2014), “Zulu”, in Dictionary of Contemporary Slang, 4th edition, London;  […]: Bloomsbury

Chichewa

Etymology

From Ngoni; compare Zulu umZulu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzú.ɽu/

Proper noun

Zúlu

1. a surname from Ngoni

Statistics

According to data collected by Forebears in 2014, Zulu was the 4th most common surname in Zambia (212 468 persons = 1.4 percent of the population) and the 53rd most common surname in Malawi (23227 persons = 0.1 percent of the population).

Dutch

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzulu/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Homophone: Zoeloe

Noun

Zulu ? (plural Zulu's, no diminutive)

1. (law enforcement, slang) police helicopter

   Synonym: politiehelikopter