Sindebelen.
/sɪndəˈbɛleɪ/, /sɪndəˈbeɪleɪ/, /sɪndəˈbiːli/, U.S. /ˌsɪndəˈbɛleɪ/, /ˌsɪndəˈbeɪleɪ/, /ˌsɪndəˈbili/, South African English /sɪndəˈbeli/, /sɪndəˈbiːli/, /sɪnˈdebele/ The Nguni language of the Ndebele people. Also attributive. Cf. Ndebele n. 2.
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the mind > language > languages of the world > African languages > Niger-Kordofanian > [noun] > Niger-Congo > Niger-Congo proper languages > Kwa family > Bantu languages > Ndebele
Setebele1835
Amandebele1872
Tebele1883
Sindebele1913
Ndebele1939
1913 J. O'Neil (title) A grammar of the Sindebele dialect of Zulu.
1919 H. H. Johnston Compar. Study Bantu & Semi-Bantu Lang. I. v. 798 Tebele (Sindebele). This dialect of the Matabele (Amandebele) Zulus [etc.].
1950 C. Bullock Mashona & Matabele 147 I may say parenthetically the translation of our word God by the Shona word Mwai or the Sindebele word Mlimo.
1976 Sunday Times 10 Oct. 19 One of the loosely inter-linked languages of the Nguni group—the others are Zulu, Swazi and Sindebele.
1999 S. Agere & S. Chiwaro in L. Adamolekun Public Admin. in Afr. xxi. 361 English is the official language [of Zimbabwe], though Shona and Sindebele are taught in the schools and widely used as a means of communication by the majority of the indigenous people.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1913