boubou

English

Etymology

Nigerian traditional robe, a boubou or agbada

A tropical boubou, Laniarius major

From French boubou, from Wolof mbubb. The bird name is onomatopoeic.

Southern boubou, Laniarius ferrugineus, sometimes known as kokkewiet

Noun

boubou (plural boubous)

1. A flowing wide-sleeved robe worn by men in much of West Africa, and to a lesser extent in North Africa.

   Synonym: agbada

   • 2007 March 11, Michael Kamber, “A continent away, heartbreak over relatives once seen as lucky”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     In Bamako’s thriving market, a group of moneychangers in brightly colored boubous, the traditional robes worn here, said that Moussa Magassa, who owns the house in the Bronx where his family and the Soumares lived and who lost five children in the blaze, stopped by once or twice a year on his trips home to Mali and was well known in the community.

2. Any of certain species of birds in the bushshrike genus Laniarius.

Derived terms

• Albertine sooty boubou (Laniarius holomelas)
• mountain boubou (Laniarius poensis)
• mountain sooty boubou (Laniarius poensis)
• western boubou (Laniarius poensis)

Translations

flowing wide-sleeved robe

• French: boubou (fr)
• Lingala: bubú

bird of the genus Laniarius

See also

• brubru (“bird in the bushshrike family of the species Nilaus afer”)

Further reading

• boubou (clothing) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Laniarius on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Laniarius on Wikispecies.Wikispecies

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Wolof mbubb.

Pronunciation

• Audio (Canada):

  (file)

Noun

boubou m (plural boubous)

1. boubou (African robe)

Descendants

• → English: boubou

Further reading

• “boubou”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.