Ghanian

Part of speech: adjective, noun

Definitions

1. Relating to or characteristic of the country located in West Africa known for its rich culture and history; denoting a person who originates from or is a citizen of that nation; associated with the language, traditions, or products of that region
2. Pertaining to the nation situated on the Gulf of Guinea with a diverse ethnic heritage; describing an individual born in or connected to this West African state; connected to the customs, languages, and identity rooted in this country
3. Affiliated with the West African country famed for its Gold Coast legacy; referring to someone holding nationality or descent from this land; relating to cultural practices, languages, or things typical of this area

Etymology: Ghanaian is a plain formation rather than a dramatic one. The word is built from "Ghana," the name of the West African country, plus the suffix "-ian," which forms adjectives and nouns meaning "of" or "belonging to" a place or person, as in "Russian" or "Victorian." The country's name itself comes from the medieval Ghana Empire, the state centred in the region of present-day Mali and Mauritania whose ruler was known by a title often rendered as "ghana," meaning roughly "war chief" or "warrior king" in the Soninke language. When the British colony of the Gold Coast became independent in 1957 and chose the name Ghana, it deliberately reached back to that older empire, so the adjective is tied to a claimed heritage rather than to the empire's actual territory, which lay well to the north. The adjective and the noun are the same word, so "a Ghanaian" refers to a person and "Ghanaian food" refers to the culture. Its use in English dates from the period after independence, when the new name became standard in international usage.

Synonyms: ghanaian