English

Noun

lobola ‎(countable and uncountable, plural lobolas)

1. (South Africa) The dowry paid to a bride's family to secure a wedding among certain Bantu peoples of South Africa.
   • 1979, André Brink, A Dry White Season, Vintage 1998, p. 38:

     All the money he'd brought with him had gone into lobola – the dowry for a wife […].

   • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 213:

     My sister Baliwe, who was older than Mabel, had been engaged to be married, and lobola had already been paid.

Translations

Zulu

Verb

-lobola

1. (intransitive) to pay dowry

Conjugation

Related terms

• ilobolo