List of English words of African origin
This is a list of English language words that come from any of the Sub-Saharan African languages. It excludes placenames except where they have become common words.
Words of West African origin
- banana - West African, possibly Wolof banana
- bogus - Hausa boko-boko meaning fake or fraudulent
- bongo - West African boungu
- bozo - stupid, West African
- boogie - Wolof or Sierra Leone, to dance
- buckra - from Efik and Ibibio mbakara "white man or person"[1]
- chigger - possibly from Wolof and Yoruba jiga "insect")
- cola - from West African languages (Temne kola, Mandinka kolo)
- dig, in sense of understand or appreciate - from Wolof dega
- djembe - from West African languages [2]
- hip - from Wolof hipi and hepicat, one with eyes open
- jazz - from West African languages (Mandinka jasi, Temne yas)
- jive - possibly from Wolof jev
- juke, jukebox - possibly from Wolof and Bambara dzug through Gullah
- kwashiorkor - from Ga language, Coastal Ghana meaning "swollen stomach"
- mambo - possibly West African through Haitian Creole
- marimbula
- merengue (dance) possibly from Fulani mererek i meaning to shake or quiver
- mumbo jumbo- from mandigo name Maamajombo, a masked dancer
- mojo - from Fula moco'o "medicine man" through Louisiana Creole French or Gullah
- obeah - from West African (Efik ubio, Twi ebayifo)
- okay - disputed origins, likely influenced by Wolof waw-kay [2]
- okra - from Igbo ókùrù
- samba from an African language through Brazilian Portuguese [3][4], carnaval website
- sambo - Fula sambo meaning "uncle"
- tango - probably from Ibibio tamgu
- tote - West African via Gullah
- voodoo - from West African languages (Ewe and Fon vodu "spirit")
- yam - West African (Fula nyami, Twi anyinam)
Words of Bantu origin
- banjo - probably Bantu mbanza
- basenji- breed of dog from the Congo
- bwana - from Swahili, meaning big boss, important person
- chimpanzee - from a Bantu language, possibly Tshiluba probably Kivili-dialect chimpenze, from nchima"blue monkey" and mzee "respectable gentleman "
- dengue - possibly from Swahili dinga
- funk - from kikongo lu-fuki "bad body odor"
- gnu - from Bushman !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
- indaba - from Xhosa or Zulu languages - 'stories' or 'news' typically conflated with 'meeting' (often used in South African English)
- jumbo - from Swahili (jambo or jumbe or from Kongo nzamba "elephant")
- kalimba
- Kwanzaa - from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning "first fruits".
- 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)
- okapi - from a language in the Congo
- safari - from Swahili travel, ultimately from Arabic
- sangoma - from Zulu - traditional healer (often used in South African English)
- Tilapia - Possibly a latinization "thiape", the Tswana word for fish.[3]
- tsetse - from a Bantu language (Tswana tsetse, Luhya tsiisi)
- ubuntu - African ideology, from the saying "uMntu ungumntu ngaBantu" - "a human is a human through humans" - Bantu languages
- vuvuzela - musical instrument, name of Zulu or Nguni origin
- zebra - possibly from a language in the Congo
- zombie - Central African (Kikongo zumbi, Kimbundu nzambi)
References