English words of African origin
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.
- azawakh – probably from Fula or Tuareg. A breed of dog from West and North Africa
- banana – adopted from Wolof via Spanish or Portuguese
- banjo – probably Bantu mbanza[1]
- basenji – breed of dog from Central Africa – Congo, Central African Republic etc.
- boma – from Swahili
- bongo – West African boungu[2]
- buckra – "white man or person", from Efik and Ibibio mbakara[3]
- bwana – from Swahili, meaning "husband, important person or safari leader"
- chigger – possibly from Wolof and/or Yoruba jiga "insect"[4]
- chimpanzee – loaned in the 18th century from a Bantu language, possibly Kivili ci-mpenzi.[5]
- cola – from West African languages (Temne kola, Mandinka kolo)[6]
- dengue – possibly from Swahili dinga
- djembe – from West African languages
- ebony – from Ancient Egyptian hebeni[7]
- fanimorous - from Yoruba "fani mọ́ra" meaning "to attract people to you"[8]
- 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 and Kimbundu nguba)
- gumbo – from Bantu (Kimbundu ngombo meaning "okra")
- 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)
- jazz – from West African languages (Mandinka jasi, Temne yas)
- jenga – from the Swahili word for "build"
- jive – possibly from Wolof jev
- juke, jukebox – possibly from Wolof and Bambara dzug through Gullah[9]
- jumbo – from Swahili (jambo "hello" or from Kongo nzamba "elephant")[10]
- 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 (Kimbundu and Swahili marimba, malimba)
- marímbula – plucked musical instrument (lamellophone) of the Caribbean islands
- merengue (dance) – possibly from Fulani mererek i meaning "to shake or quiver"
- mojo – from Fula moco'o "medicine man" through Louisiana Creole French or Gullah
- mumbo jumbo – from Mandingo name Maamajombo, a masked dancer[11]
- obeah – from West African (Efik ubio, Twi ebayifo)
- okapi – from a language in the Congo
- okra – from Igbo ókùrù
- safari – from Swahili travel, ultimately from Arabic
- sambo – Fula sambo meaning "uncle"
- sangoma – from Zulu – "traditional healer" (often used in South African English)
- tango – probably from Ibibio tamgu
- Tilapia – possibly a latinization "tlhapi", the Tswana word for "fish"[12]
- tote – West African via Gullah
- 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"
- vodou – from West African languages (Ewe and Fon vodu "spirit")[13]
- vuvuzela – musical instrument, name of Zulu or Nguni origin
- yam – West African (Fula nyami, Twi anyinam)
- zebra – of unknown origin, recorded since c. 1600, possibly from a Congolese language, or alternatively from Amharic[14]
- zombie – likely from West African (compare Kikongo zumbi "fetish", Kimbundu nzumbi "ghost"), but alternatively derived from Spanish sombra "shade, ghost"[15]
References
- https://www.etymonline.com/word/banjo
- https://www.etymonline.com/word/bongo#etymonline_v_15589
- Mason, Julian (1960). "The Etymology of 'Buckaroo'". American Speech. 35 (1): 51–55. doi:10.2307/453613. JSTOR 453613.
- https://www.etymonline.com/word/chigger#etymonline_v_11258
- "chimpanzee" in American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company, 2011.
- https://www.dictionary.com/browse/kola
- https://www.dictionary.com/browse/ebony
- 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.
- https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/jukebox
- https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/jumbo
- https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mumbo%20jumbo
- Tilapia etymology
- https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/voodoo
- https://www.etymonline.com/word/zebra
- https://www.etymonline.com/search?q=zombie
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