SOTHO

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Sotho mean? 

• SOTHO (noun)
  The noun SOTHO has 2 senses:

1. a member of the Bantu people who inhabit Botswana, Lesotho, and northern South Africa and who speak the Sotho languages

2. any of the mutually intelligible southern Bantu languages of the Sotho in Botswana and South Africa and Lesotho

  Familiarity information: SOTHO used as a noun is rare.

• SOTHO (adjective)
  The adjective SOTHO has 1 sense:

1. of or relating to any of the group of Sotho languages

  Familiarity information: SOTHO used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SOTHO (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A member of the Bantu people who inhabit Botswana, Lesotho, and northern South Africa and who speak the Sotho languages

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("Sotho" is a kind of...):

Bantu (a member of any of a large number of linguistically related peoples of Central and South Africa)

Holonyms ("Sotho" is a member of...):

Botswana; Republic of Botswana (a landlocked republic in south-central Africa that became independent from British control in the 1960s)

Basutoland; Kingdom of Lesotho; Lesotho (a landlocked constitutional monarchy in southern Africa; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1966)

Republic of South Africa; South Africa (a republic at the southernmost part of Africa; achieved independence from the United Kingdom in 1910; first European settlers were Dutch (known as Boers))

Derivation:

Sotho (of or relating to any of the group of Sotho languages)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any of the mutually intelligible southern Bantu languages of the Sotho in Botswana and South Africa and Lesotho

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Hypernyms ("Sotho" is a kind of...):

Bantoid language; Bantu (a family of languages widely spoken in the southern half of the African continent)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "Sotho"):

Basuto; Sesotho (the dialect of Sotho spoken by the Basotho; an official language of Lesotho)

Sechuana; Setswana; Tswana (the dialect of Sotho spoken by the Tswana in Botswana)

Derivation:

Sotho (of or relating to any of the group of Sotho languages)

• SOTHO (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Of or relating to any of the group of Sotho languages

Classified under:

Relational adjectives (pertainyms)

Context example:

Sotho noun classifiers

Pertainym:

Sotho (any of the mutually intelligible southern Bantu languages of the Sotho in Botswana and South Africa and Lesotho)

Derivation:

Sotho (any of the mutually intelligible southern Bantu languages of the Sotho in Botswana and South Africa and Lesotho)

Sotho (a member of the Bantu people who inhabit Botswana, Lesotho, and northern South Africa and who speak the Sotho languages)