boubou
1
9.0
- noun
:
boubou
- The image he cultivated during his presidency, which appears in official portraits and on Malian currency of the period, always shows him wearing a Malian kaftan or boubou.
- a green boubou
Examples
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This remarkable boubou style is no longer worn, and only seventeen examples survived in museum collections (Gardi 2000).
Academic text (2005) -
Usually, Mamadou is so busy with school that the only sign of him is the jungle-patterned boubou robe he keeps hanging on the hook by his bed.
Fiction book (2000) -
Lomasa-Boubou: Western Sahel, 19th century.
Academic text (2005) -
Kene was dressed in rather formal attire: boubou, headwrap, newish sandals.
Fiction book (1997) -
Nonetheless, their boubou clothes and tasseled hats do not merely foreground their Africanity alone, but they represent a commitment to an age-old West African Islamic tradition.
Academic text (2009) -
Yet, few miss them wearing their wide-sleeve boubou robes with tasseled hats hawking items out of briefcases in Midtown Manhattan or, perhaps, strolling Harlem streets.
Academic text (2009) -
"Look at those spiders," he says; "taste those citrons, those guavas, those little bananas; wear that grass-green boubou; chew that kola nut; smoke those Lucky Strikes; steer clear of those military men; eat that snow-white rice."
Fiction book (1997) -
Haidara, resplendently dressed in a pale blue boubou and maroon skullcap, unlocked the door to a storage room.
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Kene was dressed in rather formal attire: boubou, headwrap, newish sandals.
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Wearing his usual white boubou, Diack, 52, settled into a corner table overlooking the Atlantic Ocean.
Synonyms
284
1.3
A long loose piece of clothing worn at ceremonies by judges or graduates
1
9.9
A long loose robe with a hood that people wear in North Africa
A long loose robe with a hood worn in North Africa
A long loose outer robe from Sudan often worn by men or for religious reasons
A long cloth that women wrap around their body to wear
A long often white robe with long sleeves that men wear in East Africa
How Loose
Surface Forms
Etymology
Boubou comes from West Africa, from local words such as the Wolof bubu meaning 'robe' or 'loose garment'. So a boubou is exactly that long, loose robe often made from bright cloth for special occasions.