griot
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day
Merriam-Webster
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🗓️ 10 September 2025
⏱️ 2 minutes
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Summary
Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for September 10, 2025 is:
griot • \GREE-oh\ • noun
The term griot refers to any of a class of musician-entertainers of western Africa whose performances include tribal histories and genealogies. The term is also used broadly to refer to a storyteller.
// Tracing her family lineage back to West African griots inspired the singer to focus on storytelling through her music.
Examples:
“Music is both the subject and mechanism of Sinners, which opens with a voiceover history of how some musicians, dating back to the West African griots, have been seen as conduits between this world and the one beyond.” — Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 22 Apr. 2025
Did you know?
In many West African countries, the role of cultural guardian is maintained, as it has been for centuries, by griots. Griot—a borrowing from French—refers to an oral historian, musician, storyteller, and sometimes praise singer. (Griots are called by other names as well: jeli or jali in Mande and gewel in Wolof, for example). Griots preserve the genealogies, historical narratives, and oral traditions of their tribes. Among the instruments traditionally played by griots are two lutes: the long-necked, 21-string kora, and the khalam, thought by some to be the ancestor of the banjo.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | It's the word of the day for September 10th. |
| 0:12.0 | Today's word is Grio, spelled GRIOT. Grio is a noun. It refers to any of a class of musician entertainers of Western Africa, whose performances include tribal histories and genealogies. |
| 0:24.6 | The term is also used broadly to refer to a storyteller. |
| 0:28.6 | Here's the word used, and a sentence from pitchfork. |
| 0:31.6 | Music is both the subject and mechanism of sinners, which opens with a voiceover history of how some musicians, |
| 0:39.8 | dating back to the West African Grios, have been seen as conduits between this world and the |
| 0:46.1 | one beyond. In many West African countries, the role of cultural guardian is maintained, as it has |
| 0:53.2 | been for centuries, by grios. |
| 0:55.6 | Griot, a borrowing from French, refers to an oral historian, musician, storyteller, and sometimes praise singer. |
| 1:03.7 | Grios are called by other names as well, jelly or jally in Mandé or jewel in Wallaf, for example. |
| 1:11.7 | Grios preserve the genealogies, historical narratives, and oral traditions of their tribes. |
| 1:17.8 | Among the instruments traditionally played by griots are two lutes, the long-necked 21-string Quora, and the Kalam, |
| 1:26.8 | thought by some to be the ancestor of the banjo with your word of the day |
| 1:31.5 | i'm peter sokoloski visit miriam webster.com today for definitions wordplay and trending word lookups |
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