English Words from Afrikaans

(an official language of the Republic of South Africa which developed from the Dutch of the colonists who went there in the 1600's; South African Dutch)

The words in this unit have been compiled from a list of the "Afrikaans" language. The parts of speeches and definitions were added from a variety of sources.

—The basic entries come from the "Word Source" section in the
Scott, Foresman Advanced Dictionary by E.L. Thorndike and Clarence L. Barnhart;
Scott, Foresman and Company; Glenview, Illinois; 1973; page 20.
veld, veldt (s) (noun); velds; veldts (pl)
1. A section of land, probably large, in parts of southern Africa that is used for animals to graze: The cattle aways looked forward to leaving their kraals and going into the velds.
2. Etymology: from Afrikaans veld; from Middle Dutch velt, veld, "field".
wildebeest (s) (noun), wildebeests (pl)
1. A gnu, which is a big antelope in Africa that has a long tail, bent horns forming a curve and long hair below its chin: The school children on their trip to the zoo were amazed when they actually saw the wildebeests after talking about them in their biology class in school.
2. Etymology: from South African Dutch (in modern Afrikaans wildebees, singular; wildebeeste, plural); literally, "wild beast, wild animal"; from Dutch wild, "wild" + beest, "beast, wild animal; ox".

See other English words from foreign languages at this
Other Languages Index.