Editing Igbo language (section)

== Usage in the diaspora ==
As a consequence of the [[Atlantic slave trade]], the Igbo language was spread by enslaved Igbo people throughout slave colonies in the Americas. Examples can be found in [[Jamaican Patois]]: the pronoun {{IPA|/unu/}}, used for 'you (plural)', is taken from Igbo, ''Red eboe'' refers to a fair-skinned black person because of the reported account of a fair or yellowish skin tone among the Igbo.<ref>{{cite book|title=A Dictionary of Jamaican English |first1=Frederic Gomes |last1=Cassidy |edition=2nd  |first2=Robert Brock |last2=Le Page |publisher=University of the West Indies Press |year=2002 |page=168 |isbn=976-640-127-6 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_lmFzFgsTZYC&pg=PA168 |access-date=2008-11-24}}</ref> ''Soso'' meaning ''only'' comes from Igbo.<ref>{{cite book | title=The Missing Spanish Creoles: Recovering the Birth of Plantation Contact Languages | first=John H. | last=McWhorter |page=77 | isbn=0-520-21999-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=czFufZI4Zx4C&pg=PA77 | publisher=University of California Press | year=2000 |access-date=2008-11-29}}</ref> See [[List of Jamaican Patois words of African origin]] for more examples.

The word ''Bim'', a name for Barbados, was commonly used by enslaved [[Barbadian people|Barbadians]] ([[Barbados|Bajan]]s). This word is said to derive from the Igbo language, derived from ''bi mu'' (or either ''bem'', ''Ndi bem'', ''Nwanyi ibem'' or ''Nwoke ibem'') ({{langx|en|My people}}),<ref>{{cite book|title=Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage |first1=Richard |last1=Allsopp |first2=Jeannette |last2=Allsopp |page=101 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PmvSk13sIc0C&pg=PA101 |publisher=University of the West Indies Press |year=2003 |isbn=976-640-145-4 |access-date=2008-11-24}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Carrington |first=Sean |title=A~Z of Barbados Heritage |year=2007 |publisher=Macmillan Caribbean Publishers Limited |pages=25 |isbn=978-0-333-92068-8<!--|access-date=2008-11-23-->}}</ref> but it may have other origins (see: [[Barbados#Etymology|Barbados etymology]]).{{fact|date=January 2025}}

In [[Cuba]], the Igbo language (along with the [[Efik language]]) continues to be used, albeit in a creolized form, in ceremonies of the [[Abakuá]] society, equivalent or derived from the [[Ekpe]] society in modern Nigeria.{{fact|date=January 2025}}

In modern times, Igbo people in the diaspora are putting resources in place to make the study of the language accessible.{{fact|date=January 2025}}