Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A Khoikhoi person.
  • noun Any of the Khoisan languages of the Khoikhoi.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A member of a race of South Africa, which differs from the other South African races, being of a dark yellowish-brown complexion, of smaller stature, of more ungainly build, and of inferior mental endowment.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Ethnol.) One of a degraded and savage race of South Africa, with yellowish brown complexion, high cheek bones, and wooly hair growing in tufts.
  • noun The language of the Hottentots, which is remarkable for its clicking sounds; the Khoisan language.
  • noun (Bot.) a South African plant of the genus Cassine (Cassine maurocenia), having handsome foliage, with generally inconspicuous white or green flowers.
  • noun (Bot.) See Elephant's foot (a), under Elephant.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • proper noun A member of the Khoekhoe group of peoples.
  • proper noun The language of the Khoi, remarkable for its clicks.
  • proper noun Any of several fish of the genus Pachymetopon, in the family Sparidae.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of the Khoisan languages spoken by the pastoral people of Namibia and South Africa

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Afrikaans.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Dutch variously ascribed to mean stutterer; and from hot en tot being an approximation of common sounds in the Khoi language. First known use 1677 (in Dutch).

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Examples

  • Or the process may be used to derive verbs from nouns, as in Hottentot khoe-khoe “to talk Hottentot” (from khoe-b “man, Hottentot”), or as in Kwakiutl metmat “to eat clams” (radical element met - “clam”).

    Chapter 4. Form in Language: Grammatical Processes 1921

  • She obtained permission to go… and soon was a sideshow attraction in 19th-century Europe under the name Hottentot Venus.

    Don’t Bring Home a White Boy KARYN LANGHORNE FOLAN 2010

  • “And I am to conclude,” Hancock broke in, “that a Hottentot is as good as a white man?”

    CHAPTER XXII 2010

  • “And I am to conclude,” Hancock broke in, “that a Hottentot is as good as a white man?”

    The Little Lady of the Big House, by Jack London 1916

  • Sarah Baartman, the so-called Hottentot Venus, who was paraded naked as a sexual freak in Britain and France in the 1800s.

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2002

  • Bartmann, the so-called Hottentot Venus who was paraded naked as

    ANC Daily News Briefing 2002

  • One of the most notorious manifestations of this racism was the use and abuse of so-called Hottentot women such as Sarah Bartmann, whom science and medicine identified as the essence of black female sexuality.

    The Barbie Chronicles Yona Zeldis McDonough 1999

  • One of the most notorious manifestations of this racism was the use and abuse of so-called Hottentot women such as Sarah Bartmann, whom science and medicine identified as the essence of black female sexuality.

    The Barbie Chronicles Yona Zeldis McDonough 1999

  • It began 300 years ago, when the brown men of the Cape - the Nama who were called Hottentot and the Khoi who were called Bushmen - fought the white invaders with bows, arrows and spears.

    Class & Colour in South Africa 1850-1950 Ray Esther 1969

  • It began 300 years ago, when the brown men of the Cape - the Nama who were called Hottentot and the Khoi who were called Bushmen - fought the white invaders with bows, arrows and spears.

    'The Regeneration of Africa' 1906

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