Words of Afrikaans origin have entered other languages.
British English has absorbed Afrikaans words primarily via
British soldiers who served in the
Boer Wars. Many more words have entered common usage in
South African English due to the parallel nature of the English and
Afrikanercultures in
South Africa. Afrikaans words have unusual spelling patterns.
Most of these words describe the African flora, fauna or landscape.
Internationally common
Afrikaans (noun: name of language, from "african") derivative:
Afrikaner (person who speaks Afrikaans as their native tongue), plural: Afrikaners
apartheid (literally "apart-ness"): also the name of a period of segregation in the country during 1948–1994
bergwind (warm dry wind blowing from the plateau to the coast)
biltong (literally "rump tongue/strip"): dried cured red-meat, similar to
Jerky. Has a
boerewors equivalent known as
Droëwors
Boer (literally "farmer"): due to the large number of Afrikaans-speaking farmers, the term is exclusively used among Afrikaners for displaying national pride.
boerewors (literally "farmer's sausage"): a juicy mixed-spice and mixed-meat sausage
Highveld: a raised plateau stretching from the eastern side of the
Free State (province) up north including the provinces of
Gauteng and
North West. Due to its location in Gauteng, the city of
Johannesburg is the highest urban settlement by elevation
sjambok (an ox-hide whip): used by the South African Police Service for riot control, formerly used as a disciplinary tool for misbehaving school children
spoor (literally "tracks" or "footprints"): the Afrikaans "spoorweë" refers specifically to the National Train Route, often indirectly as the train-tracks as well.
trek (literally "draw",[3] or "haul"): Popularized in English by "Die Groot Trek" (The
Great Trek)
veld (literally "field" or natural African bush vegetation)[4][5]
ystervarkies (literally "iron piglets"; translates as porcupine/hedgehog), the South African name for
Lamingtons
Common names
Afrikaans (or
Cape Dutch)
common names for plants and animals often entered the English vernacular:
platanna (from Dutch "plathander", meaning "flat handed creature")
rinkhals (literally "ring throat"): also known as the ring-necked spitting cobra
springbok (literally "jumping buck"): The National Animal of South Africa
white, in "
white rhinoceros", possibly from wyd meaning "wide" (describing the animal's mouth) Modern Afrikaans also say "Wit Renoster", meaning White Rhinoceros.
Cape Dutch
There are also several English words derived from Cape Dutch, a forerunner of Afrikaans:
hartebeest (modern Afrikaans equivalent is hartebees)
scoff/skoff[7] (as in scoffing food): from
Cape Dutchschoff, the word did not find its way into modern Afrikaans
veldt borrowed again by English in the modern form
veld
wildebeest (modern Afrikaans equivalent is wildebees)
^James, Wilmot G. and Mary Simons, ed. (9 January 2009). Class, Caste and Color: A Social and Economic History of the South African Western Cape. Transaction Publishers. pp. 13–15.
ISBN978-1412808651.
^McKenna, Amy (2011).
The History of Southern Africa. The Rosen Publishing Group. p. 12.
ISBN978-1-61530-312-0. Veld, meaning field in Afrikaans, is the name given to various types of open country in Southern Africa that is used for pasturage and farmland. To most South African farmers today the 'veld' refers to the land they work, much of which has long since ceased to be 'natural.'
^Meyer, Deon (2011).
Trackers. Grove/Atlantic, Incorporated. p. 476.
ISBN978-0-8021-9513-5. Veld: Afrikaans for natural African bush vegetation, usually savanna grass and thorn trees, can also refer to grazing, field, or hunting ground.
^Greaves, Nic. The magic fish bones and other tales from Africa. p. 121.