Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to Africa or its peoples, languages, or cultures.
  • noun A native or inhabitant of Africa.
  • noun A person of African ancestry.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to Africa: either to the continent of that name, or
  • to the region about Carthage, the ancient Roman province of Africa.
  • Of or belonging to the black race of Africa; characteristic of or peculiar to negroes: as, African features; African cheerfulness.
  • noun A native of the continent, or in ancient times of the province, of Africa.
  • noun A member of the black African race; a negro.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to Africa.
  • adjective a fiber prepared from the leaves of the Sanseviera Guineensis, a plant found in Africa and India.
  • adjective a tropical American plant (Tagetes erecta).
  • adjective a timber furnished by Oldfieldia Africana, used in ship building.
  • adjective see African-American.
  • noun A native of Africa; also one ethnologically belonging to an African race.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to Africa.
  • noun A native of Africa; also one ethnologically belonging to an African race.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to the nations of Africa or their peoples
  • noun a native or inhabitant of Africa

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

As a noun in Old English as Africanas "Africans" (only plural). From Latin Africānae. In Middle English as Aufrican . Early Modern English Aphricane, Africans. The adjective appears in the 16th century, as Affricane, Africane, African.

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