gris-gris

Definition

An African, or Afro-American, charm or talisman.

Etymology

Unknown. Compare juju (“a fetish or charm”); compare also Mande gerregery or Mandingo gregory, an amulet or curse-object.

Example Sentences

• "A horn, or rude image, is sometimes made use of as a means of preserving the medicines of defense, and is worn as an amulet. These images, horns, or other articles, called greegrees, or jeujeus, are not held sacred for a moment after the medicine is found to have lost its power […]."
• "The Bambara were not Muslim, but they knew how to make gris-gris."

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