Link Centre Dictionary

African

af·ri·can

UK/ˈæf.ɹɪ.kən/ US/ˈæf.ɹə.kən/ common
adjective (1) noun (1)

adjective

1.

of or relating to the nations of Africa or their peoples

  • “African languages”

noun

1.

Origin

Attested as a noun in early New English Aphricane, Africans (plural), Middle English as Affrican, Aufrican and Old English as Africanas (“Africans”) (only plural). From Latin āfricānae, from āfricānus, from Āfricus. The adjective appears in the 16th century, as Affricane, Africane, African. Latin Āfricus is from Āfri (singular Āfer), the name of an ancient people of North Africa (near Carthage, in Tunisia), with the suffix -icus. āfricānus is formed by addition of the -ānus suffix. By surface analysis, Africa + -an.

Phrases

  • African American Vernacular English
  • African angelshark
  • African anteater
  • African baobab
  • African barbet
  • African blackwood
  • African boxthorn
  • African-American English

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

Pertaining to

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.