Browse dictionary
Showing 1-20 of 42 results in 42 entries
1. ackee, n. View full entry 1792
...The bright red pear-shaped fruit of the tropical tree Blighia sapida (family Sapindaceae), containing pale flesh which is commonly used in Caribbean cooking. Also: the tree itself, West...
2. Anancy, n. View full entry 1705
...The name of a legendary male personage originally occurring in Akan mythology and subsequently playing a role in numerous Caribbean folktales, having the form of a spider and being noted for his...
3. Ashanti, n. View full entry 1705
...One of the Akan peoples of West Africa; a member of this people. Also, their language....
4. benne, n. View full entry 1769
...Sesame, the plant Sesamum indicum. Chiefly attrib., as benne-oil, benne-seed....
5. chimpanzee, n. View full entry 1738
...A genus of African apes (Anthropopithecus), bearing the closest resemblance to man of any of the anthropoids. The name originally belonged to A. Troglodytes (formerly T. niger...
6. cocobay, n. View full entry 1788
...A form of leprosy once prevalent in the West Indies....
7. duppy, n. View full entry 1774
...A name among black West Indians for a ghost or spirit....
8. ensete, n. View full entry 1790
...An African relative of the banana, Ensete ventricosum (Musa ensete)....
9. fufu, n. View full entry 1740
...A kind of dough usually made out of plantains, a traditional food of people of West African origin....
10. gnu, n. View full entry 1777
...A South African quadruped (Catoblepas gnu), belonging to the antelope family, but resembling an ox or buffalo in shape; also known by its Dutch name wildebeest. The brindled...
11. gorah | gorrah, n. View full entry 1790
...A Khoekhoe musical instrument (see quot. 1881)....
12. Griqua, n. and adj. View full entry 1793
...A member of an Afrikaans-speaking people of mixed Khoekhoe and South African Dutch descent inhabiting chiefly the regions of Griqualand West in the Northern Cape province, and Griqualand East in KwaZulu-Natal province,...
13. guarri, n. View full entry 1789
...Any one of several trees or shrubs of the genus Euclea, esp. E. undulata or E. lanceolata; the fruit of these trees or shrubs. Also ...
14. impoof, n. View full entry 1785
...The common African eland, Taurotragus oryx....
15. John Canoe, n. View full entry 1774
...The chief dancer, or one of several dancers, in a Christmas celebration....
16. kankie, n. View full entry 1735
...Native African bread made from maize-flour....
17. karoo | karroo, n. View full entry 1789
...A semi-desert region of central South Africa, consisting of extensive elevated plateaus, with a clayey soil, which during the dry season are waterless and arid....
18. kaross, n. View full entry 1731
...A mantle (or sleeveless jacket) made of the skins of animals with the hair on, used by the Khoekhoe and other rural indigenous peoples of South Africa....
19. kierie, n. View full entry 1731
...A short club or knobbed stick used (esp. in the past) as a weapon by the indigenous peoples of South Africa. See also knobkerrie...
20. kino, n. View full entry 1788
...A substance resembling catechu, usually of a brittle consistence and dark reddish-brown colour, consisting of the inspissated gum or juice of various trees and shrubs of tropical and sub-tropical regions; used in...
