Khoi, noun

/kɔɪ//xɔɪ/
Forms:
Also Khoe, Khoin.
Plurals:
unchanged.
Origin:
Shortened form of Khoikhoi.
1. Khoikhoi sense 1. Also attributive.
1976 R. Ross Adam Kok’s Griquas 7The belief was current that the Moravian mission at Genadendal locked up Khoi labour that would be better employed on white farms.
1977 K.F.R. Budack in A. Traill Khoisan Ling. Studies 3 20Like the Cape Khoe, the Aonin are said to have eaten fish raw.
1980 V.C. Malherbe in Afr. Studies XXXIX. 60Another Khoi, Jan Swart,..later died.
1980 Lye & Murray Transformations 40The second Khoi group to settle the frontier were the Griqua, the creation of irregular unions of Khoi women and white and slave males.
1981 Newton-King & Malherbe Khoikhoi Rebellion 14Many Khoi..absconded from their masters during the war of 1793, when there were no British troops from whom they might seek protection.
1982 A.P. Brink Chain of Voices‘Yes, I’m of the Khoin’, I said. ‘The Dutch call me Hottentot.’
1986 S. Afr. Panorama June 22Paths used by the indigenous Hottentot (Khoi) and Bushmen (San) peoples.
1989 R. Finlayson Changing Face of isiXhosa. (Unpubl. thesis, Unisa) 5The missionaries, especially the Dutch made use of Khoi interpreters to communicate with the Xhosa.
1993 S. Hall in Natal Mercury 29 Dec. 7The more robust dogs found among the Khoi and San were described as being very ‘plucky’ and protective.
2. Khoikhoi sense 2. Also attributive.
c1978 S. Afr. 1977: Off. Yrbk (Dept of Info.) 99The Khoe languages constitute a language family. They include Nama (or Namaqua), Xiri (or Griqua) and !ora (or Korana).
1989 R. Finlayson Changing Face of isiXhosa. (Unpubl. thesis, Unisa) 2There is no way of us ascertaining just when the Khoi and San-speaking people first had an impact on the Xhosa, but earliest records note the click (or clack) sounds as an intrinsic part of the language.
1989 R. Finlayson Changing Face of isiXhosa. (Unpubl. thesis, Unisa) 4Certain Khoi morphemes have been adopted into Xhosa and hence we have suffixes such as -rha, -sha and -sholo in the language.
Khoikhoi sense 1. Also attributive.
Khoikhoi sense 2. Also attributive.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

19761993

Browse Related Words

By Category

Peoples
Languages
khalifa, nounn.Khoikhoi, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English