Somali

How to spell somali

6 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce somali

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does somali mean?

1. adjectiveRelating to Somalia, its people, or their language.
2. nounA native or inhabitant of Somalia, or a member of the Somali people.
3. nounThe Cushitic language spoken by the Somali people.

Somali in a sentence

• adjective

  The restaurant serves traditional somali dishes alongside fresh flatbread.

• noun

  As a somali, he grew up speaking three languages at home.

• noun

  The council printed the safety leaflet in English and somali.

• adjective

  She studied the somali coastline for her geography dissertation.

• noun

  The documentary followed a somali who had settled in the coastal city.

• noun

  He is learning somali to communicate better with his neighbours.

Where does somali come from?

Language of origin: Other

This word is the English form of the name the Somali people use for themselves, and it reached English in the nineteenth century as European maps and reports began describing the Horn of Africa. The exact origin of the name is genuinely debated among scholars, which is why its history cannot be told with certainty. One popular folk explanation links it to the phrase 'soo maal', meaning roughly 'go and milk', a nod to the region's long pastoral tradition of herding camels and cattle. Another proposal connects it to an older ethnic or clan name recorded by Arab and Ethiopian writers centuries earlier. Whatever its true root, the spelling was fixed in English from the Italian and British colonial era, and it kept the single 'l' and final 'i' of the original name rather than being reshaped, which is the main thing a writer needs to remember.

How the word is built

• Somali- (the self-name of the people of the Horn of Africa)
• -i (forming an adjective and noun of origin)