Proto Bantu word for 'people', as reconstructed by the 19th-century linguist Wilhelm Bleek.
- The largest African language family of the Niger-Congo group, spoken in much of Sub-Saharan Africa.
- General term for African ethnic groups speaking a Bantu language and their members.
- (South Africa, dated, now offensive) A black South African.
Black South Africans were at times officially called "Bantus" by the Apartheid regime. New legislation and documents from the South African government have replaced "Bantu" with "Black" due to the former word's derogatory connotations. Outside Southern Africa the term is still widely used as a term for the Bantu-speaking peoples.