gullah means pertaining to the Gullah language and culture. It carries an Arena rating of 1413, earned across 39 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, gullah ranks #4,403 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #5,583 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #7,583 of 17,131 for Scariest Words, #7,895 of 17,130 for Most Beautiful Words.
gullah is pronounced /ˈɡʌl.ə/.
Why “gullah” is a great word
GULLAH — [Adjective] Pertaining to the Gullah language, a creole of English and various African languages spoken in coastal regions of the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida, and to the culture of its speakers. First attested in 1739 as a male black slave's proper name, of unclear origin. Frequently linked to the Gola people of West Africa or, by folk etymology, to an apheresis of Angola. Unlike "Geechee" (often narrowing to Georgia and Florida) or the broad linguistic category "Creole," Gullah names a specific, enduring world forged in isolation. It is the intricate weave of a sweetgrass basket, the syncopated rhythm of a ring shout in an unpainted church, and the taste of red rice where West African ingredients endure—a quiet, living architecture forged from the very fragments meant to break a people.
Etymology
First attested in 1739 as a male black slave's proper name, of unclear origin. Traditionally linked by folk etymology to an apheresis of Angola (where many African slaves were carried from), or an apparent West African ethno-tribal group called the Gola people. See more at the Wikipedia article Gullah, including other theories.
adj
- Pertaining to the Gullah language and culture.e.g.“The music of George Gershwin’s Porgie and Bess was inspired in part by Gullah "shouts".”
name
- A creole of English and various African languages spoken on a group of islands off the coast of the Carolinas and Georgia in the Southern United States.e.g.“Gullah has been spoken continuously since before the Civil War.”
- The culture surrounding this language and geography.
noun
- A member of the Gullah culture.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
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