African

See also: african and Afričan

English

Alternative forms

• Afrikan (sometimes used in AAVE)
• Afric (poetic, archaic)

Etymology

Attested as a noun in early New English Aphricane, Africans (plural), Middle English as Affrican, Aufrican and Old English as Africanas (“Africans”) (only plural). From Latin Āfricānae, from Āfricānus, from Āfricus. The adjective appears in the 16th century, as Affricane, Africane, African.

Latin Āfricus is from Āfri (singular Āfer), the name of an ancient people of North Africa (near Carthage, in modern Tunisia), with the suffix -icus. Africānus is formed by addition of the -ānus suffix.

By surface analysis, Africa +‎ -an.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæf.ɹɪ.kən/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Adjective

African (comparative more African, superlative most African)

1. Of or pertaining to Africa.
   • 2022 March 10, Daniel Howden, “Europe has rediscovered compassion for refugees – but only if they’re white”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     Spain’s Melilla, one of two small exclaves of EU land on the African continent, has long been the strongest distillation of fortress Europe.

2. Black; (dated, offensive) synonym of negroid.

   The truth is that I know the guy had African skin and a shirt of some sort.

   • 2013, Stem Cells—Advances in Research and Application: 2013 Edition, ScholarlyEditions, →ISBN, page 311:

     In vivo and in vitro approaches in understanding the differences between Caucasian and African skin types: […]

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:African.

Hyponyms

• Congolese
• Ethiopian
• Maghrebi
• Mozambican
• Ugandan
• Zimbabwean

Derived terms

• African-American
• African-American English
• African American Vernacular English
• African anteater
• African baobab
• African barbet
• African buffalo
• African bullfrog
• African cherry orange
• African crake
• African crested porcupine
• African custard apple
• African elephant (Loxodonta africana or L. cyclotis)
• African emerald cuckoo
• Africanesque
• African ginger
• African golf
• African harrier-hawk
• African hemp (Sparrmannia africana)
• African hobby
• African horse sickness
• African hunting dog
• Africanist
• Africanity
• African Latin
• African lethargy
• Africanlike
• African-like
• African Lily
• African linden (Sparrmannia africana)
• African linsang
• African Lion Dog
• African Lion Hound
• African long-tailed shrike
• African marigold (Tagetes erecta)
• African massage
• African milk barrel
• African milk tree
• African millet
• African myrrh
• African oak (Oldfieldia africana)
• African palm civet
• African penguin (Spheniscus demersus)
• African pygmy goat
• African Romance
• African sand fox
• African Shorthair
• African skimmer
• African spotted creeper
• African spurred tortoise
• African swine fever virus
• African't
• African teak
• African time
• African Union
• African violet (Saintpaulia spp.)
• African walnut
• African whitewood
• African Zionism
• Africoon
• Africoon-Americoon
• Africoonia
• Africoonian
• Afrocoon
• Apefrica
• Apefrican
• Central African
• Central African Federation
• Central African Republic
• East African
• human African trypanosomiasis
• Indo-African
• North African
• South African
• West African hemorrhagic fever

Translations

of or pertaining to Africa

• Albanian: afrikan (sq)

  Old Albanian: harapes

• Amharic: አፍሪካዊ (ʾäfrikawi)
• Arabic: إِفْرِيقِيّ (ar) (ʔifrīqiyy), أَفْرِيقِيّ (ʔafrīqiyy)
• Armenian: աֆրիկական (afrikakan), աֆրիկյան (afrikyan)
• Asturian: africanu (ast)
• Azerbaijani: afrikalı
• Belarusian: афрыка́нскі (afrykánski)
• Bengali: আফ্রিকান (bn) (aphrikan)
• Bulgarian: африка́нски (afrikánski)
• Burmese: အာဖရိက (ahpa.ri.ka.), အာဖရိကန် (ahpa.ri.kan)
• Catalan: africà (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 非洲的 (zh) (Fēizhōu de)

• Czech: africký (cs)
• Danish: afrikansk (da)
• Dutch: Afrikaans (nl)
• Estonian: Aafrika (et)
• Faroese: afrikanskur
• Finnish: afrikkalainen (fi)
• French: africain (fr)
• Galician: africano (gl)
• Georgian: აფრიკული (apriḳuli)
• German: afrikanisch (de)
• Greek: αφρικανικός (el) (afrikanikós)
• Hawaiian: ʻApelika
• Hebrew: אַפְרִיקַאי (he) (afrikái)
• Hindi: अफ़्रीकी (hi) (afrīkī), हब्शी m (habśī)
• Hungarian: afrikai (hu)
• Icelandic: afrískur (is)
• Ido: Afrikana (io)
• Irish: Afracach
• Italian: africano (it)
• Japanese: アフリカの (ja) (Afurika no)
• Kazakh: африкалық (afrikalyq)
• Khmer: អាហ្វ្រិក (ʼaafrɨk)
• Korean: 아프리카의 (ko) (apeurika-ui)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: Efrîqayî

• Kyrgyz: африкалык (ky) (afrikalık)
• Lao: ອາຟຣິກກາ (lo) (ʼāp rik kā)
• Latin: Afer, Africus (la), Africanus
• Latvian: afrikāņu, afrikānis
• Lithuanian: afrikiečių, afrikietiškas (lt)
• Macedonian: африкански (afrikanski)
• Marathi: आफ्रिकन (āphrikan)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: африк (afrik)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: afrikansk (no)

• Occitan: african (oc)
• Odia: ଆଫ୍ରିକୀୟ (āphrikiya)
• Pashto: افريقايي (afriqāyi)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: آفْریقایی (âfriğâyi)

• Polish: afrykański (pl)
• Portuguese: africano (pt)
• Romanian: african (ro)
• Russian: африка́нский (ru) (afrikánskij)
• Scottish Gaelic: Afragach
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: а̀фричкӣ, афрѝка̄нскӣ

  Roman: àfričkī (sh), afrìkānskī (sh)

• Sicilian: africanu, fricanu (apheretic, subseded)
• Slovak: africký (sk)
• Slovene: afriški (sl)
• Spanish: africano (es)
• Swahili: kiafrika
• Swedish: afrikansk (sv)
• Tagalog: Aprikahin
• Tajik: африқоӣ (afriqoi)
• Telugu: ఆఫ్రికను (āphrikanu)
• Thai: แอฟริกา (th) (ɛ́p-frí-gaa)
• Tigrinya: ኣፍሪቃዊ (ʾafriḳawi)
• Turkish: Afrikalı (tr)
• Turkmen: afrikaly
• Ukrainian: африка́нський (uk) (afrykánsʹkyj)
• Urdu: اَفْرِیقی (afrīqī)
• Uyghur: ئافرىقىلىق (ug) (afriqiliq)
• Uzbek: afrikalik (uz)
• Vietnamese: Châu Phi (vi), Phi Châu (dated)
• Volapük: Frikopik (vo), (obsolete) Fikopik
• Welsh: Affricanaidd
• Yiddish: אַפֿריקאַניש (afrikanish)

language — see Afrikaans

Noun

African (plural Africans)

1. A native of Africa; also one ethnologically belonging to an African race.
   • 2007, African Immigrant Religions in America, →ISBN:

     Africans constitute significantly growing populations not only in major urban centers such as New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and Atlanta but also in small and midsize cities in states such as Ohio and Maine.

   • 2019, Razib Khan, Arabia between Africa and Eurasia‎^[2]:

     But new research suggests another possibility: all Africans may have ancestry from “West Eurasian” populations which moved back into Africa after the “Out of Africa” event ~50,000 years ago. […]

Hyponyms

• Maghrebi
• sub-Saharan

Derived terms

• Africanism

Translations

a native of Africa

• Afrikaans: Afrikaan (af)
• Albanian: afrikan (sq) m, afrikane (sq) f
• Arabic: إِفْرِيقِيّ (ar) m (ʔifrīqiyy), إِفْرِيقِيَّة f (ʔifrīqiyya)
• Armenian: աֆրիկացի (afrikacʻi)
• Azerbaijani: afrikalı
• Belarusian: афрыка́нец m (afrykánjec), афрыка́нка f (afrykánka)
• Bengali: আফ্রিকান (bn) (aphrikan)
• Breton: Afrikan (br) m, Afrikanez (br) f, Afrikanek
• Bulgarian: африка́нец (bg) m (afrikánec), африка́нка (bg) f (afrikánka)
• Burmese: အာဖရိကတိုက်သူ (ahpa.ri.ka.tuiksu)
• Catalan: africà (ca) m, africana (ca) f
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 非洲人 (fei¹ zau¹ jan⁴)

  Mandarin: 非洲人 (zh) (fēizhōurén)

• Czech: Afričan (cs) m, Afričanka (cs) f
• Danish: afrikaner (da)
• Dutch: Afrikaan (nl) m, Afrikaanse (nl) f
• Faroese: afrikani m
• Finnish: afrikkalainen (fi)
• French: Africain (fr) m, Africaine (fr) f
• Galician: africano (gl) m, africana f
• Georgian: აფრიკელი (apriḳeli)
• German: Afrikaner (de) m, Afrikanerin (de) f (female)
• Greek: Αφρικανός (el) m (Afrikanós), Αφρικανή (el) f (Afrikaní)

  Ancient: Ἄφρος m (Áphros)

• Hawaiian: ʻApelika
• Hebrew: אַפְרִיקַאי (he) m (afrikái), אפריקאית f (afrikáit)
• Hindi: अफ़्रीकी (hi) m (afrīkī), हब्शी m (habśī)
• Hungarian: afrikai (hu)
• Icelandic: Afríkumaður m, Afríkubúi (is) m
• Ido: (♂♀) Afrikano (io), (♂) Afrikanulo, (♀) Afrikanino
• Irish: Afracach m
• Italian: africano (it) m, africana (it) f
• Japanese: アフリカ人 (afurikajin)
• Kazakh: африкалық (afrikalyq)
• Korean: 아프리카인 (apeurikain), 아프리카 사람 (apeurika saram)
• Kyrgyz: африкалык (ky) (afrikalık), африканец (ky) (afrikanets)
• Latin: Āfer m
• Latvian: afrikānis m, afrikāniete f
• Lithuanian: afrikietis (lt) m, afrikietė (lt) f
• Macedonian: Африканец m (Afrikanec), Африканка f (Afrikanka)
• North Frisian: (Föhr-Amrum) aafrikooner m
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: afrikaner (no) m

  Nynorsk: afrikanar (nn) m

• Occitan: african (oc) m
• Odia: ଆଫ୍ରିକୀୟ (āphrikiya)
• Ojibwe: makadewiiyaas
• Pashto: افريقايي m or f (afriqāyí)
• Persian:

  Iranian Persian: آفْریقایی (âfriğâyi)

• Polish: Afrykanin (pl) m, Afrykanka (pl) f
• Portuguese: africano (pt) m, africana (pt) f
• Romanian: african (ro) m, africană (ro) f
• Russian: африка́нец (ru) m (afrikánec), африка́нка (ru) f (afrikánka)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: Африка́нац m, Афрѝка̄нка f

  Roman: Afrikánac (sh) m, Afrìkānka f

• Slovak: Afričan (sk) m, Afričanka (sk) f
• Slovene: afričan m, afričanka f
• Sorbian:

  Upper Sorbian: Afričan m, Afričanka f

• Sotho: Moafrika
• Spanish: africano (es) m, africana (es) f
• Swahili: Mwafrika (sw)
• Swedish: afrikan (sv) c
• Tajik: африқоӣ (afriqoi)
• Telugu: ఆఫ్రికను (āphrikanu)
• Turkish: Afrikalı (tr)
• Turkmen: afrikaly
• Ukrainian: африка́нець (uk) m (afrykánecʹ), африка́нка f (afrykánka)
• Urdu: اَفْرِیقی m or f (afrīqī)
• Uyghur: ئافرىقىلىق (ug) (afriqiliq)
• Uzbek: afrikalik (uz)
• Vietnamese: người châu Phi, người Phi châu (dated)
• Volapük: (♂♀) Frikopan (vo), (♂) hi-Frikopan, (♀) ji-Frikopan (vo), (♂♀, obsolete) Fikopel
• Welsh: Affricanwr m
• Yiddish: אַפֿריקאַנער m (afrikaner), אַפֿריקאַנערין f (afrikanerin)

Anagrams

• Francia, acifran