Definitions

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

  • noun A family of languages of southern Africa, including those of the Khoikhoi and the San.

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

  • proper noun The group of Southern African indigenous people, comprising the Khoi and San. Indigenous to the semi-desert regions.
  • proper noun The group of languages associated with the Khoisan including Nama, ‡Hõã, ǃKung, ǃXũũ, Ju/’hoan, and ‡Kx’auǁ’ein.
  • noun A member of the Khoi or San people.

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

  • noun a family of languages spoken in southern Africa

Etymologies

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

[Nama khoe(khoe-n), the Nama people; see Khoikhoi + Nama san, the San people; see San.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Compound of the name of two tribes, the pastoral Khoi (formerly Hottentots) and the hunter-gatherer San (formerly Bushmen).

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