English words of African origin

The following list names English words that originate from African languages.

• Adinkra – from Akan, visual symbols that represent concepts or aphorisms.
• Andriana – from Malagasy, aristocratic noble class of the Kingdom of Madagascar
• apartheid – from Afrikaans, "separateness"
• Aṣẹ - from Yoruba, "I affirm" or "make it happen"
• ammonia – from the Egyptian language in reference to the god Amun
• Bantu - from Bantu languages, "people"
• babalawo – from Yoruba, priest of traditional Yoruba religion
• banana – adopted from Wolof via Spanish or Portuguese
• banjo – from Mandinka bangoe, which refers to the Akonting
• basenji – breed of dog from Central Africa – Congo, Central African Republic etc.
• – extremely skinny (reference to the widespread starvation that occurred in Biafra during the Nigerian Civil War).
• boma – from Swahili
• bongo – West African
• buckra – "white man or person", from Efik and Ibibio mbakara
• Buharism - policies of Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, especially during his rule as a military dictator.
• – from Swahili, meaning "husband, important person or safari leader"
• chigger – possibly from Wolof and/or Yoruba jiga "insect"
• chimpanzee – loaned in the 18th century from a Bantu language, possibly Kivili ci-mpenzi.
• chimurenga – from Shona, "revolution" or "liberation"
• cola – from West African languages (Temne kola, Mandinka kolo)
• cooter from Bambara and Malinké <i> kuta </i> meaning turtle
• dengue – possibly from Swahili dinga
• djembe – from West African languages
• ebony – from Ancient Egyptian hebeni
• – from Yoruba "fani mọ́ra" meaning "to attract people to you"
• gerenuk – from Somali. A long-necked antelope in Eastern Africa (Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Djibouti)
• gnu – from Khoisan !nu through Khoikhoi i-ngu and Dutch gnoe
• goober – possibly from Bantu (Kikongo)
• gumbo – from Bantu Kongo languages ngombo meaning "okra"
• hakuna matata – from Swahili, "no trouble" or "no worries"
• impala – from Zulu im-pala
• impi – from Zulu language meaning "war, battle or a regiment"
• indaba – from Xhosa or Zulu languages – "stories" or "news" typically conflated with "meeting" (often used in South African English)
• japa – from Yoruba, "to flee"
• jazz – possibly from Central African languages (Kongo) From the word jizzi.
• jenga – from the Swahili verb kujenga meaning "to build".
• jive – possibly from Wolof jev
• juke, jukebox – possibly from Wolof and Bambara through Gullah
• jumbo – from Swahili (jambo "hello" or from Kongo nzamba "elephant")
• kalimba
• Kwanzaa – a recent coinage (Maulana Karenga 1965) for the name of an African American holiday, abstracted from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning " fruits [of the harvest]"
• kwashiorkor – from Ga language, coastal Ghana, meaning "swollen stomach"
• 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 (Kongo languages)
• marímbula – plucked musical instrument (lamellophone) of the Caribbean islands
• merengue (dance) – possibly from Fulani meaning "to shake or quiver"
• Mobutism – state ideology of Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo)
• mojo – from Kongo Moyoo "medicine man" through Louisiana Creole French or Gullah
• mumbo jumbo – from Mandingo
• mtepe – from Swahili, "boat"
• mzungu – from Bantu languages, "wanderer"
• nitrogen – from the Egyptian language. The salt natron, transliterated as nṯrj.
• obeah – from West African (Efik ubio, Twi ebayifo)

• okapi – from a language in the Congo
• okra – from Igbo ókùrù
• orisha – from Yoruba, "deity"
• Osu – from Igbo, traditional caste system
• oyinbo – from Yoruba, "skinless" or "peeled skin"
• safari – from Swahili journey, ultimately from Arabic
• sambo – Fula sambo meaning "uncle"
• sangoma – from Zulu – "traditional healer" (often used in South African English)
• shea – A tree and the oil Shea butter which comes from its seeds, comes from its name in Bambara
• tango – probably from Ibibio
• tilapia – possibly a Latinization of "tlhapi", the Tswana word for "fish"
• tsetse – from a Bantu language (Tswana tsetse, Luhya )
• ubuntu – Nguni term for "mankind, humanity", in South Africa since the 1980s also used capitalized, Ubuntu, as the name of a philosophy or ideology of "human kindness" or "humanism"
• – from Swahili, "freedom".
• Ujamaa – from Swahili, "fraternity". Socialist policies of Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere.
• – from West African languages (Ewe and Fon vodu "spirit")
• vuvuzela – musical instrument, name of Zulu or Nguni origin
• yam – West African (Fula nyami, Twi anyinam)
• zebra – of unknown origin, recorded since c. 1600, from Portuguese ‘ezebro’, used of an Iberian animal, in turn possibly ultimately from Latin ‘equiferus’, but a Congolese language, or alternatively Amharic have been put forward as possible origins
• zimbabwe – from Shona, "house of stones" or "venerated houses"
• zombie – likely from West African (compare Kikongo zumbi "fetish", but alternatively derived from Spanish sombra "shade, ghost"

References