tonga1
/ˈtɒŋɡə
/noun
A light horse-drawn two-wheeled vehicle used in India.A horse-drawn tonga keeps stately pace with the latest Mercedes, jostled by cycles and bikes....
- From there you take a bone-shaking bumpy ride in a tonga to Bisola.
- There are people astride camels and horses, and some ensconced within tongas and bullock carts for fun-filled rides.
Origin
From Hindi tā̃̄gā.
Rhymes
Tonga2
/ˈtɒŋə/ /ˈtɒŋɡə /
A country in the South Pacific consisting of an island group south-east of Fiji; population 120,900 (est. 2009); official languages, Tongan and English; capital, Nuku’alofa. Also called the Friendly Islands.
The kingdom of Tonga consists of about 170 volcanic and coral islands, of which thirty-six are inhabited. Visited by the Dutch in the early 17th century, Tonga became a British protectorate in 1900 and an independent Commonwealth state in 1970. It has been a constitutional monarchy since 1875
Tonga3
/ˈtɒŋɡə/noun (plural same or Tongas)
1A member of any of three peoples of southern Africa, living mainly in Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique respectively.It is unreasonable for one to still think that they would find Arab merchants and Tongas engaged in the barter system of trade in ivory, salt, copper ornaments and other goods today....
- The Tonga live in southern Zambia along the Zambezi River.
- From time immemorial, Tongas have viewed cattle rearing as their only source of wealth and in the past it was difficult for them to imagine that their valuable domestic animal would vanish through uncontrolled circumstances.
2 [mass noun] Any of the three different Bantu languages spoken by the Tonga.Other languages spoken in Zimbabwe are Tonga, Shangaan, and Venda....
- In Southern Province, the community media are using Tonga whereas the community media in Northern Province uses Bemba.
adjective
Relating to the Tonga or their languages.The seventh Tonga Music Festival aimed at promoting the Tonga culture through music needs an estimated K40 million to successfully host the annual event....
- The Tonga women of the Zambezi River Valley very often combined the three colors white, blue, and red in their unique beadwork.
- Earlier last year there had been a small outbreak in the Tonga region when 22 people contracted the disease after major flooding in Mozambique in February.