A griot (/ˈɡriːoʊ/; French: [ɡʁi.o]; Manding: jali or jeli (in N'Ko: ߖߋ߬ߟߌ, djeli or djéli in French spelling); also spelt Djali; Serer: paar or kevel or kewel / okawul; Wolof: gewel) is a West African historian, storyteller, praise singer, poet, and/or musician. Griots are masters of communicating stories and history orally, which is an African tradition.

Instead of writing history books, oral historians tell stories of the past that they have memorized. Sometimes there are families of historians, and the oral histories are passed down from one generation to the next. Telling a story out loud allows the speaker to use poetic and musical conventions that entertain an audience. This has contributed to many oral histories surviving for hundreds of years without being written down.

Through their storytelling, griots preserve and pass on the values of a tribe or people, such as the Senegalese, who are Muslims. The Wolof people in Senegal, many of whom cannot read or write, depend on griots to learn about their culture.

The griot is a repository of oral tradition and is often seen as a leader due to their position as an advisor to members of the royal family. As a result of the former of these two functions, they are sometimes called bards. They also act as mediators in disputes.

The word may derive from the French transliteration guiriot of the Portuguese word criado, or the masculine singular term for 'servant'. Griots are more predominant in the northern portions of West Africa.

Despite the important role of the griot in African culture, it's difficult to pin down the word's origin; hence the variety of terms for griot in African languages. Griots are referred to by a number of names: ߖߋ߬ߟߌ jèli in northern Mande areas, jali in southern Mande areas, guewel in Wolof, paar or kevel or kewel or okawul in Serer, gawlo 𞤺𞤢𞤱𞤤𞤮 in Pulaar (Fula), iggawen in Hassaniyan, arokin in Yoruba, and diari or gesere in Soninke. Some of these may derive from Arabic ‏قَول‎ qawl, 'a saying, statement'.

The Manding term ߖߋߟߌߦߊ jeliya (meaning 'musicianhood') sometimes refers to the knowledge of griots, indicating the hereditary nature of the class. Jali comes from the root word ߖߊߟߌ jali or djali ('blood'). This is also the title given to griots in regions within the former Mali Empire. Though the term griot is more common in English, some, such as poet Bakari Sumano, prefer the term jeli.^{[citation needed]}

Today, the term and spelling djali is often preferred, as noted by American poet Amiri Baraka and Congolese filmmaker Balufu Bakupa-Kanyinda.