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as·se·gai or as·sa·gai

(ăsə-gī′)

1. A light spear or lance used by Bantu peoples of southern Africa.

2. A tall evergreen tree (Curtisia dentata) of southern Africa, having durable wood used for making weapons, furniture, and other wooden products, and bark that is used in traditional medicine.

[Early Modern English, from Middle French azagaye (probably via Old Spanish azagaya, a small spear or javelin), from Arabic az-zaġāya, the spear : al-, the + zaġāya, spear, of Berber origin; akin to Tuareg tăhġait, bayonet, from earlier *tăzġait (*tă-...-t, feminine noun circumfix).]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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