Definitions

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

  • noun A language that developed from 17th-century Dutch and is an official language of South Africa.
  • adjective Of or relating to Afrikaans or Afrikaners.

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

  • proper noun A Germanic language descending from Dutch; the primary language of the descendants of Dutch and other European settlers, as well as many mixed-race (e.g. Rehoboth Basters) living in South Africa and in Namibia. Also, one of the eleven official languages of South Africa and until 1990 one of three official languages of Namibia.
  • proper noun A term sometimes used of people from South Africa and Namibia (who speak Afrikaans), more properly called "Afrikaans people" or Afrikaners.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to the Afrikaans language.

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

  • noun an official language of the Republic of South Africa; closely related to Dutch and Flemish
  • adjective belonging or relating to white people of South Africa whose ancestors were Dutch or to their language

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Afrikaans, from Dutch Afrikaansch, African, from Latin Āfricānus; see Afrikaner.]

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