# mali

Pronunciation: say "MAH-lee" US /ˈmɑli/, UK /ˈmɑːli/

## Proper noun · Mali

1. A country in West Africa, officially called the Republic of Mali.
   - Simple: A country in West Africa whose full name is the Republic of Mali.
   - _The researchers spent a season in Mali studying the old manuscript libraries of Timbuktu._
   - _Mali's capital, Bamako, sits on the Niger River._

## Noun

2. A member of a South Asian caste whose traditional work is gardening, or, by extension, any gardener in South Asia. *(India, South Asia)*
   - Simple: A person from a South Asian caste whose old family job is gardening, or any gardener there.
   - _The mali at the bungalow had planted marigolds along the drive in time for Diwali._
   - _The college employs three malis to keep its lawns and flower beds in order._
3. Money, especially in the form of cash. *(South Africa)*
   - Simple: Money, especially the cash you have to spend.
   - _Payday's on Friday, so everyone's waiting for the mali to come in._
   - _She made good mali selling vetkoek at the taxi rank._

## Noun · Mali

4. A person of Somali birth or descent. *(dialectal, Multicultural London English)*
   - Simple: A Somali person, from Somalia or with a Somali family.
   - _My mate Abdi's a Mali, and his mum makes the best sambusa in the ends._
   - _The youth club's got Malis, Nigerians and Jamaicans all on the same five-a-side team._

## Other meanings

- (noun) Plural of malus. Rare; found mainly in insurance and contract contexts, often paired with boni.

## Origin

**Meaning 2** — Borrowed from Hindi mālī ("gardener"), from Sanskrit mālī ("garland-maker; florist; gardener") and mālin ("florist; gardener"), from mālā ("wreath, garland").
**Meaning 3** — Borrowed from Xhosa and Zulu imali ("money"), both ultimately from Swahili mali ("riches, wealth; property"), from Arabic māl ("money; wealth; possessions"). Some dictionaries suggest it comes from English money instead, but this is unlikely.
**Meaning 1** — Named after the Mali Empire. Its name may come from a Manding word meaning "hippopotamus", but this explanation is disputed.
**Meaning 4** — A shortened form of Somali.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mali (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).