balafon

English

Etymology

From Mandinka balafoŋo.

Noun

balafon (plural balafons)

1. A wooden-keyed percussion idiophone of West Africa that is struck with two padded sticks.

   Alternative form: balaphone

   Synonym: bala

   Hypernym: idiophone

   • 2009 April 17, The New York Times, “Pop Listings”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     He is performing here with his Symmetric Orchestra, an ensemble of West African musicians who play both traditional instruments (kora, balafon, bolombatto, djembe) and slightly more contemporary ones (guitars, keyboards).

Translations

A percussion idiophone of West Africa

• Esperanto: balafono
• French: balafon (fr) m
• German: Balafon n
• Mandingo:

  Mandinka: balafoŋo

• Romanian: balafon (ro) n
• Turka: guulaagu

Further reading

• balafon on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Mandinka balafoŋo.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ba.la.fɔ̃/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

balafon m (plural balafons)

1. (music) balafon

Further reading

• “balafon”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Romanian

Etymology

Etymology tree

Mandinka balafoŋobor.

French balafonbor.

Romanian balafon

Borrowed from French balafon.

Noun

balafon n (plural balafoane)

1. balafon

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	balafon	balafonul	balafoane	balafoanele
genitive-dative	balafon	balafonului	balafoane	balafoanelor
vocative	balafonule		balafoanelor