Khoisan
Khoi·san/ˈkɔɪˌsɑn/noun
Khoisan is spelled K-H-O-I-S-A-N: 7 letters and 2 syllables (Khoi·san). It appears about once in every 20 million words in written English, the 134,976th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, Khoisan means “A member of the group of non-Bantu Southern African indigenous people: the Khoi or San people” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of Khoisan is Khoisans.
How many letters and syllables are in Khoisan?
| Letters | 7: K-H-O-I-S-A-N |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: Khoi·san |
| In writing | about once in every 20 million words; the 134,976th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is Khoisan?
Khoisan appears about once in every 20 million words in written English, the 134,976th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce Khoisan?
- UK /ˈkɔɪsɑːn/
- US /ˈkɔɪˌsɑn/
Khoisan has 2 syllables, split Khoi·san in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Khoisan.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Forms of Khoisan
- Khoisans plural
- Khoi-San
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does Khoisan mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A member of the group of non-Bantu Southern African indigenous people: the Khoi or San people.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does Khoisan come from?
From Khoi + San, from the pastoral Khoi tribe (formerly also called Hottentots) and the hunter-gatherer San (also known as Bushmen). Coined by Isaac Schapera in 1930, in linguistic usage since the 1950s (following Joseph Greenberg, Studies in African Linguistic Classification, 1955).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).