What does assegai mean?
An assegai is a slender, iron-tipped spear traditionally used by the Bantu peoples of southern Africa, most famously by Zulu warriors of the nineteenth century. The weapon typically featured a long, narrow blade mounted on a wooden shaft, and it could serve either as a missile thrown at an enemy or, in shorter forms, as a thrusting weapon in close combat. The word entered English during the period of European contact with southern Africa, borrowed through Portuguese from North African sources, and it retains that historical flavor today. Modern usage is almost entirely confined to historical writing, ethnography, military history, and literature set in colonial-era Africa, where the assegai stands as a symbol of indigenous African warfare. Because of these connotations, using the word evokes a specific time and place rather than serving as a general term for spears, which makes it valuable for writers seeking precision and atmosphere.
nounA slender iron-tipped spear used historically by Bantu peoples of southern Africa, especially by Zulu warriors.
- A slender iron-tipped spear used by Bantu peoples of southern Africa, particularly the Zulu.
"The warrior carried a light throwing assegai in his right hand and a heavier stabbing spear at his side."
"Shaka's warriors discarded their throwing assegais in favor of short stabbing spears for close combat."
"In the museum's collection hung a finely wrought assegai, its blade darkened by more than a century."
Standard plural; simply add -s.
"The regiment advanced with a forest of gleaming assegais."
The word 'assegai' traveled thousands of miles before it ever named a weapon in English — carried from North African Berber tongues through Arabic and Portuguese before landing in colonial vocabularies.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of assegai
The word 'assegai' derives from Portuguese 'azagaia', which was itself borrowed from Arabic 'az-zaghāya', ultimately tracing back to a Berber source in North Africa. European colonists and traders in southern Africa adopted the Portuguese term in the early modern period to describe the spears used by local peoples, and it entered English by the seventeenth century. The same Berber-Arabic lineage gave related terms to other European languages, such as French 'zagaie'.
How assegai is actually used
The term carries strong historical associations with nineteenth-century southern Africa, especially the Zulu kingdom, and appears chiefly in historical, anthropological, or literary contexts rather than everyday speech. The variant spelling 'assagai' also occurs. It can be applied figuratively to any light throwing spear, though this is uncommon.
Easily confused with assegai
An 'assegai' is a type of African spear, while an 'assay' is a test or analysis, especially of metals or substances.