Zulu

See also: ZULU, zulu, zulú, zulù, and żulu

Translingual

Alternative forms

• zulu

Etymology

From English Zulu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈzulu]

Noun

Zulu

1. (international standards) NATO, ICAO, ITU & IMO phonetic alphabet code for the letter Z.

Translations

the letter "Z" in a national spelling alphabet

• Czech: Zuzana (cs)
• Estonian: Zürich (et)
• Finnish: tseta (fi)
• Italian: Zara
• Polish: zulu (pl)

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English

Etymology

From Zulu umZulu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈzuːluː/

• Audio (Canada)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -uːluː

Proper noun

Zulu

1. An African ethnic group living mainly in the KwaZulu-Natal Province in eastern South Africa.
2. (uncountable) The language of these people, a Bantu language; isiZulu.

   Synonym: isiZulu

Translations

African ethnic group

• 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)

• 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)
• Portuguese: zulu (pt)
• Zulu: amaZulu class 6

language

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

  Mandarin: 祖魯語, 祖鲁语 (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)
• Navajo: Zulu Dineʼé bizaad
• Polish: zulu (pl) n
• Portuguese: zulu (pt)
• Russian: зу́лу (ru) m (zúlu), зулу́сский (ru) m (zulússkij)
• Swahili: Kizulu
• Swedish: zulu (sv) c
• Yiddish: זולו‎ n (zulu)
• Zulu: isiZulu (zu) class 7

Noun

Zulu (countable and uncountable, plural Zulu or Zulus)

1. (countable) An individual member of the Zulu people.
2. A designation for 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

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 (zūrū-jin)
• Manx: Sooloo m
• Portuguese: zulu (pt)
• Russian: зулу́с (ru) m (zulús)
• Swahili: Mzulu
• Yiddish: זולו‎ m (zulu)
• Zulu: umZulu class 1/6

Zulu time

• Finnish: UTC (fi)

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

Adjective

Zulu (not comparable)

1. Pertaining to the Zulu people, culture, or language.

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: Zulus
• Portuguese: zulu (pt)
• Russian: зулу́сский (ru) (zulússkij)
• Spanish: zulú (es)
• Swahili: Kizulu
• 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 (behind paywall)

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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).

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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)

1. (law enforcement, slang) police helicopter

   Synonym: politiehelikopter