Hausa language, member of the Chadic group of languages belonging to the Afroasiatic family of languages. See Afroasiatic languages.

Hausa or Haussa, black African ethnic group, numbering about 23 million, chiefly in N Nigeria and S Niger. The Hausa are almost exclusively Muslim and practice agriculture. Their widespread trading activities have contributed to making their language a lingua franca in much of W Africa. In earlier times the Hausa were organized in the Hausa States. Long the vassals of Bornu, the states were conquered by the Songhay in 1513 and by the Fulani in the early 19th cent. In colonial Nigeria the traditional Hausa-Fulani social and political structure was largely maintained under the British policy of indirect rule. The Hausa remain a major force in Nigerian politics.

Afro-Asiatic language of northern Nigeria and southern Niger. Hausa, which is spoken by some 40–50 million people, belongs to the Chadic branch of the Afro-Asiatic language phylum. Outside of Hausaland, communities of Hausa merchants have stimulated the use of Hausa as a lingua franca across a broad area of the African Sahel and savanna region. Hausa is now customarily written in the Latin alphabet (introduced in the early 20th century), though writing in an adaptation of the Arabic alphabet (attested about a century earlier) continues in Qurhamzahānic schools and some other contexts.

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People of northwestern Nigeria and southern Niger. Their language, also called Hausa, is an Afroasiatic language of the Chadic group. The Hausa, numbering some 32 million, are the largest ethnic group in the area. In the mid 14th century a confederation of Hausa states was formed, influenced by the spread of Islam from the Mali empire. Hausa society traditionally was, and to some extent continues to be, organized on a feudal basis. The head of an emirate is surrounded by h1d officeholders who hold villages as fiefs, from which their agents collect taxes. The economy has traditionally rested on agriculture, though craftwork and trade are also important. Hausa society is markedly hierarchical; the ranking, both of offices and social classes, is expressed in an elaborate etiquette. Seealso Fulani.

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