Balante

noun

Ba·​lante

bəˈlänt

variants or less commonly Balanta

-lantə

plural Balante or Balantes also Balanta or Balantas

1

a

: a Sudanese people of French Senegal and Angola

b

: a member of such people

2

: the West-Atlantic language of the Balante people

Word History

Etymology

Balante from French; Balanta from Portuguese

First Known Use

circa 1895, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

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