n. pl. Ndebele or Nde·be·les 1. A member of a Zulu people of southwest Zimbabwe. 2. The Nguni language of the Ndebele, closely related to Zulu spoken in South Africa. In both senses also called Matabele. [Ndebele -Ndebele (as in amaNdebele, Ndebele people, and isiNdebele, Ndebele language); perhaps akin to Sotho Matebele, Zulu peoples entering Sotho territories in the 19th century; see MATABELE.] |
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