Akan
/ˈɑːk(ə)n
/noun (plural same)
1A member of a people inhabiting southern Ghana and adjacent parts of Côte d’Ivoire (Ivory Coast).Mother Earth holds great reverence for the Akan; nature is believed to be a living thing....
- The keyhole that frames it suggests the lock-and-key motif of Victorian jewelry that also became a symbol of love and commitment among the Akan.
- The major ethnic groups of Ghana are the Akan, Ewe, Guan, Mole-Dagbane, and Ga-Adangbe.
2 [mass noun] The language of the Akan, belonging to the Kwa group and having over 4 million speakers. Its main dialects are Ashanti and Fante. Also called Twi.In the African language of Akan, the word ‘sankofa’ means to revisit the past in order to face the future....
- The total sample size was 1,553, and the majority were Akan speakers interviewed in Akan.
- This group includes such major languages as Akan, Ga-Adangbe, and Ewe.
adjective
Relating to the Akan or their language.According to church leaders, all the members who were not part of the Akan language group learned to speak it as a result of spending time in Accra and other southern areas, where it is widely spoken, before coming to the United States....
- One hilt represents one of the most familiar and influential images in all of Akan art, the so-called sankofa bird, whose head is turned toward its back.
- Frances Marzio has surveyed the wealth of styles and motifs from the Masonic to the astrological and the marital to the funereal, and her study has implications concerning the source of many widespread Akan images.
Origin
The name in Akan.