Geechee

/ɡiːˈtʃiː/ noun

Definition

A person from the Geechee or Gullah culture of coastal South Carolina and Georgia; also refers to the Creole language they speak.

Etymology

Possibly from Kissi, a West African language, or from the Ogeechee River in Georgia. The term identifies both a cultural group and their distinctive English-African Creole language that preserves African linguistic features.

Kelly Says

Geechee/Gullah is living proof of how enslaved Africans shaped American language—it preserves African grammar patterns and vocabulary in English words, making it a linguistic time capsule of the Middle Passage and cultural resistance.

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