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List of English words of Afrikaans origin

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Several words from the Afrikaans language have been absorbed into English, primarily from British soldiers who served in the Boer Wars. Many more have entered common usage in South African English due to the parallel nature of the English and Afrikaner cultures in South Africa.

Internationally Common

There are almost innumberable borrowings from Afrikaans in South African English, including braai (a shortening of braaivleis, a barbeque), dorp (a small town), kopje (a hillock), kraal (a corruption of the Portuguese curral, an enclosure for cattle), laager (a defensive circle of wagons) and lekker (a slang word for 'nice' or 'good').

Cyberbraai has a more complete list of these words, as well as several words from various African languages, such as Zulu.

See also: Lists of English words of international origin

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