assegai

noun /ˈæsəɡaɪ/

1. A slim hardwood spear or javelin with an iron tip, especially those used by Bantu peoples of Southern Africa.

   But now the Moormen, stalking o'er the strand / to guard the wat'ery stores the strangers need; / this, targe on arm and assegai in hand, / that, with his bended bow, and venom'd reed[.]

2. The tree species Curtisia dentata, the wood of which is traditionally used to make assegais.

   In the clearing, built around the base of an assegai tree, stood a hut, plastered in cow dung.

Where it comes from

From French azagaie (now zagaie) or Portuguese azagaia, Spanish azagaya, and later in the forms that have become most common borrowed from Afrikaans assegaai, from colloquial Arabic اَلزَّغَايَة (az-zaḡāya), from Proto-Berber *zaġāya (“spear”).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry assegai (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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