English words from Afrikaans
5 English words with Afrikaans in their history, whether borrowed directly or passed on through other languages.
apartheid
It is borrowed from Afrikaans apartheid (“separateness”), formed from Dutch apart (“separate”) and the suffix -heid, which corresponds to -hood. The Dutch adverb is from French à part, the source of…
commando
It is borrowed from Afrikaans kommando, from Dutch commando (“command, a troop under a commander”), which the AHD and Merriam-Webster trace to Spanish comando, and Barnhart, Etymonline and Random…
pap
1. The word for the breast or nipple is inherited from Middle English pappe, of uncertain origin. The OED, the American Heritage Dictionary and the MED take it as perhaps or probably borrowed from…
scoff
1. The word for mockery is inherited from Middle English scof, also skof, and is perhaps or probably borrowed from Old Norse skop (“mockery, railing”), also skaup, or a related Scandinavian form…
trek
It is borrowed from Afrikaans trek (“a journey, the drawing of a wagon”), from Dutch trekken, to march, journey, originally to draw, pull, from Middle Dutch trecken, cognate with Middle Low German…