griot

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. [See the entry >](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/griot) 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](https://www.britannica.com/art/griot). Griot—a borrowing from French—refers to an oral historian, musician, storyteller, and sometimes [praise singer](https://www.britannica.com/art/praise-song). (Griots are called by other names as well: jeli or jali in [Mande](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Mande) and gewel in [Wolof](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Wolof), for example). Griots preserve the [genealogies](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/genealogy), historical narratives, and [oral traditions](https://www.britannica.com/topic/oral-tradition) of their tribes. Among the instruments traditionally played by griots are two [lutes](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/lute): the long-necked, 21-string [kora](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/kora), and the [khalam](https://www.britannica.com/art/African-music), thought by some to be the ancestor of the banjo.