Ban"tu (?), n.
A member of one of
the great family of Negroid tribes occupying equatorial and southern
Africa. These tribes include, as important divisions, the Kafirs,
Damaras, Bechuanas, and many tribes whose names begin with Aba-
, Ama-, Ba-, Ma-, Wa-, variants of the
Bantu plural personal prefix Aba-, as in Ba-ntu, or
Aba-ntu, itself a combination of this prefix with the syllable
-ntu, a person. -- Ban"tu,
a.
© Webster 1913.