Most words of African origin used in English are nouns describing animals, plants, or cultural practices that have their origins in Africa (mostly sub-Saharan African; Arabic words not included unless another African language is an intermediary). The following list includes some examples.
Adinkra – from Akan, visual symbols that represent concepts or aphorisms. Adopted in theoretical physics for graphical representation of supersymmetric algebras.
Andriana – from Malagasy, aristocratic noble class of the Kingdom of Madagascar
apartheid – from Afrikaans, "separateness"
Aṣẹ - from Yoruba, "I affirm" or "make it happen"
ammonia – from the Egyptian language in reference to the god Amun
Bantu - from Bantu languages, "people"
babalawo – from Yoruba, priest of traditional Yoruba religion
banana – adopted from Wolof via Spanish or Portuguese
banjo – from Mandinka bangoe, which refers to the Akonting[1][2][3]
basenji – breed of dog from Central Africa – Congo, Central African Republic etc.
boma – from Swahili
bongo – West African boungu[4]
buckra – "white man or person", from Efik and Ibibio mbakara[5]
Buharism - Political philosophy of Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, especially during his rule as a military dictator.
bwana – from Swahili, meaning "husband, important person or safari leader"
chigger – possibly from Wolof and/or Yoruba jiga "insect"[6]
chimpanzee – loaned in the 18th century from a Bantu language, possibly Kivili ci-mpenzi.[7]
chimurenga – from Shona, "revolution" or "liberation"
cola – from West African languages (Temne kola, Mandinka kolo)[8]
dengue – possibly from Swahili dinga
djembe – from West African languages
ebony – from Ancient Egyptian hebeni[9]
fanimorous – from Yoruba "fani mọ́ra" meaning "to attract people to you"[10]
gerenuk – from Somali. A long-necked antelope in Eastern Africa (Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Djibouti)
gnu – from Khoisan !nu through Khoikhoi i-ngu and Dutch gnoe
goober – possibly from Bantu (Kikongo)
gumbo – from Bantu Kongo languages ngombo meaning "okra"
hakuna matata – from Swahili, "no trouble" or "no worries"
impala – from Zulu im-pala
impi – from Zulu language meaning "war, battle or a regiment"
indaba – from Xhosa or Zulu languages – "stories" or "news" typically conflated with "meeting" (often used in South African English)
japa – from Yoruba, "to flee"
jazz – possibly from Central African languages (Kongo) From the word jizzi”.
jenga – from the Swahili verb kujenga meaning "to build".[11]
jive – possibly from Wolof jev
juke, jukebox – possibly from Wolof and Bambara dzug through Gullah[12]
jumbo – from Swahili (jambo "hello" or from Kongo nzamba "elephant")[13]
kalimba
Kwanzaa – a recent coinage (Maulana Karenga 1965) for the name of an African American holiday, abstracted from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning "first fruits [of the harvest]"
kwashiorkor – from Ga language, coastal Ghana, meaning "swollen stomach"
Kijiji – from Swahili for "village", "hamlet" or "small town"
lapa – from Sotho languages – '"enclosure" or "barbecue area" (often used in South African English)
macaque – from Bantu makaku through Portuguese and French
mamba – from Zulu or Swahili mamba
marimba – from Bantu (Kongo languages)
marímbula – plucked musical instrument (lamellophone) of the Caribbean islands
merengue (dance) – possibly from Fulani mererek i meaning "to shake or quiver"
Mobutism – state ideology of Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo)
mojo – from Kongo Moyoo "medicine man" through Louisiana Creole French or Gullah
mumbo jumbo – from Mandingo
mtepe – from Swahili, "boat"
mzungu – from Bantu languages, "wanderer"
nitrogen – from the Egyptian language. The salt natron, transliterated as nṯrj.
obeah – from West African (Efik ubio, Twi ebayifo)
Obidient - follower of Nigerian politician Peter Obi
okapi – from a language in the Congo
okra – from Igbo ókùrù
orisha – from Yoruba, "deity"
Osu – from Igbo, traditional caste system
oyinbo – from Yoruba, "skinless" or "peeled skin"
safari – from Swahili travel, ultimately from Arabic
sambo – Fula sambo meaning "uncle"
sangoma – from Zulu – "traditional healer" (often used in South African English)
shea – A tree and the oil Shea butter which comes from its seeds, comes from its name in Bambara
tango – probably from Ibibio tamgu
tilapia – possibly a Latinization of "tlhapi", the Tswana word for "fish"[14]
tsetse – from a Bantu language (Tswana tsetse, Luhya tsiisi)
ubuntu – Nguni term for "mankind, humanity", in South Africa since the 1980s also used capitalized, Ubuntu, as the name of a philosophy or ideology of "human kindness" or "humanism"
uhuru – from Swahili, "freedom".
Ujamaa – from Swahili, "fraternity". Socialist policies of Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere.
vodou – from West African languages (Ewe and Fon vodu "spirit")[15]
vuvuzela – musical instrument, name of Zulu or Nguni origin
yam – West African (Fula nyami, Twi anyinam)
zebra – of unknown origin, recorded since c. 1600, from Portuguese ‘ezebro’, used of an Iberian animal, in turn possibly ultimately from Latin ‘equiferus’, but a Congolese language, or alternatively Amharic have been put forward as possible origins[16]
zimbabwe – from Shona, "house of stones" or "venerated houses"
zombie – likely from West African (compare Kikongo zumbi "fetish", but alternatively derived from Spanish sombra "shade, ghost"[17]
^"The Senegambian Akonting". Retrieved 15 November 2023.
^"Black People : – The Mandinka Legacy in The New World". Destee – Black Discussion Forum. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
^"The Ekonting: African Roots of the Banjo – A Direct Connection Between African & African-American Music – Down Home Radio Show". 16 April 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
^"Bongo | Etymology, origin and meaning of bongo by etymonline".
^Mason, Julian (1960). "The Etymology of 'Buckaroo'". American Speech. 35 (1): 51–55. doi:10.2307/453613. JSTOR 453613.
^"Chigger | Etymology, origin and meaning of chigger by etymonline".
^"chimpanzee" in American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2011.
^"Kola Definition & Meaning". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
^"Ebony Definition & Meaning". Dictionary.com. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
^Conference, Association of Social Anthropologists of the Commonwealth; Conference 1, Association of Social Anthropologists of the Commonwealth (1995). Worlds Apart: Modernity Through the Prism of the Local. Psychology Press. ISBN 9780415107884.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^"Play Stuff Blog » Archives » Jenga. Jenga? Jenga! | National Museum of Play". 7 August 2011. Archived from the original on 7 August 2011. Retrieved 23 September 2021.
^"JUKEBOX definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary". Retrieved 15 November 2023.
^"Jumbo definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary".
^"Tilapia etymology". www.aquaticcommunity.com. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
^"Voodoo definition and meaning | Collins English Dictionary".
^"Zebra | Etymology, origin and meaning of zebra by etymonline".
Most wordsofAfricanorigin used in English are nouns describing animals, plants, or cultural practices that have their origins in Africa (mostly sub-Saharan...
List ofEnglishwordsof Old Englishorigin. EnglishwordsofAfricanorigin List ofEnglishwordsof Afrikaans origin List of South AfricanEnglish regionalisms...
English wordsof Arabic origin (C-F) List ofEnglishwordsof Arabic origin (G-J) List ofEnglishwordsof Arabic origin (K-M) List ofEnglishwordsof Arabic...
This is a list ofEnglishwords that are borrowed directly or ultimately from Dravidian languages. Dravidian languages include Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada...
more words have entered common usage in South AfricanEnglish due to the parallel nature of the English and Afrikaner cultures in South Africa. Afrikaans...
words of the Turkic origin to penetrate English. Additionally, several wordsof Turkic origin penetrated English through Central or Eastern European languages...
This is a list ofEnglish language words whose origin can be traced to the Spanish language as "Spanish loan words". Words typical of "Mock Spanish" used...
This is a list ofEnglish language words borrowed from Indigenous languages of the Americas, either directly or through intermediate European languages...
by Joseph M. Williams in Originsof the English Language it is estimated that about 1% ofEnglishwords are of Dutch origin. In many cases the loanword...
is, words in English that derive from Persian, either directly, or more often, from one or more intermediary languages. Many wordsof Persian origin have...
This is a list ofwordsof Zulu origin attested in use by speakers of South AfricanEnglish. abatagati (from abathakathi, a word also used in Xhosa; cf...
partial list of loanwords in English language, that were borrowed or derived, either directly or indirectly, from Malay language. Many of the words are decisively...
This is a list ofEnglishwords borrowed or derived from Portuguese (or Galician-Portuguese). The list also includes words derived from other languages...
early period of Modern English to follow the spelling patterns of Latin for Englishwordsof Germanic origin. For the vowel sounds of the English language...
Lists ofEnglishwords by country or language oforigin List of collective nouns List ofEnglish auxiliary verbs List ofEnglish copulae List ofEnglish determiners...
ofAfricanwords in Jamaican Patois notes down as many loan words in Jamaican Patois that can be traced back to specific African languages. Most of these...
to trade in West Africa beginning in the 15th century, and West African Pidgin English contains numerous wordsof Portuguese origin such as sabi ('to...
List of Englishwordsof French origin). Although English is a Germanic language, it has a deep connection to Romance languages. The roots of this connection...
South AfricanEnglish (SAfrE, SAfrEng, SAE, en-ZA) is the set ofEnglish language dialects native to South Africans. British settlers first arrived in...