Bislama

See also: bislama and bislamá

English

Alternative forms

• Beach-la-Mar, Bichelama (dated)
• Bichelamar

Etymology

Borrowed from Bislama Bislama, from French bêche-de-mer (“sea cucumber”). In the mid-nineteenth century, sea cucumbers were harvested and dried at the same time that sandalwood was gathered. The name came to be associated with the kind of pidgin speech that was used by the local laborers between themselves, as well as their English-speaking overseers.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɪʃləmɑː/

Proper noun

Bislama

1. A creole language spoken on the South Pacific island-nation of Vanuatu, derived from Indo-European (mainly from English) and Oceanic languages.

Translations

a creole spoken on the South Pacific island-nation of Vanuatu

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Armenian: բիսլամա (bislama)
• Bislama: Bislama
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 比斯拉馬語／比斯拉马语 (zh) (Bǐ sī lā mǎ yǔ)

• Dutch: Bislama (nl) n
• Faroese: bislama n
• Finnish: bislama (fi)
• French: bichelamar (fr) m
• Georgian: ბისლამა (bislama)
• German: Bislama (de) n
• Greek: Μπισλάμα f (Bisláma)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Italian: bislama (it)
• Japanese: ビスラマ語 (ja) (Bisurama-go)
• Malay: bahasa Bislama
• Portuguese: bislama, bislamá (pt) m
• Russian: бислама (ru) (bislama)
• Spanish: bislama (es) m
• Swahili: please add this translation if you can
• Tagalog: please add this translation if you can
• Thai: ภาษาบิสลามา (paasăa bìtlaamaa)
• Ukrainian: біслама f (bislama)

See also

• Category:Bislama language
• pidgin

Further reading

• ISO 639-1 code bi, ISO 639-3 code bis (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Bislama, bis ⁠

Anagrams

• Baalism, sambali

Bislama

Etymology

From French bêche-de-mer (“sea cucumber”).

Proper noun

Bislama

1. the Bislama language

Dutch

Etymology

Probably borrowed from English Bislama, from Bislama Bislama, from French bêche-de-mer (“sea cucumber”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbɪs.laː.maː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: Bis‧la‧ma

Proper noun

Bislama n

1. the Bislama language [from 1980s]