Mangree language
Mangree is an extinct language from interior West Africa, probably around what is now Ivory Coast. It is very poorly documented and is not clearly classified. We only know about a dozen Mangree words collected in the late 1700s, so linguists can’t determine its exact family. It might have been Kru, Kwa, or something else, but the evidence is not enough.
The Mangree people were said to live next to the Kanga, near the Mandinga and Amina, with a large river forming the border with the Gien. A researcher named Fodor placed them around 7° N latitude, near either the Sassandra or Bandama river.
The 11 recorded words include basic terms like head, man, woman, and water. The language was described as not very different from Gien, which would suggest Kru, but the available words don’t clearly fit Kru or Kwa. The people who spoke Mangree were Kanga speakers who claimed they spoke the language well.
Some word notes: the word for God may be the same as the Twi word for God. The word for father resembles Ewe “ame” (human), possibly from a phrase about heavenly Father, with “tata” meaning father and “amee” sky. The word for human resembles Gien “me.” The word for head resembles Twi and several Kru words. The word for foot might be a compound meaning “head of the leg.” The word for child resembles Portuguese “pequenino” and English “piccaninny,” common in West African pidgins and creoles. Other Mangree words have no clear parallels in Kru or Kwa. Some similarities to Twi may be loanwords rather than signs of a close relationship.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 12:51 (CET).