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The name of the language comes directly from the Dutch word Afrikaansch (now spelled Afrikaans) [n 3] meaning 'African'. [12] It was previously referred to as 'Cape Dutch' (Kaap-Hollands or Kaap-Nederlands), a term also used to refer to the early Cape settlers collectively, or the derogatory 'kitchen Dutch' (kombuistaal) from its use by slaves of colonial settlers "in the kitchen".
This may also be related to the Afrikaans word for poison: gif. Coastal pot-smokers used the term to refer to Durban Poison: "Gifs" [locally-grown marijuana]. The word evolved into kiff, an adjective or exclamation meaning "cool", among English-speaking people on the east coast. kie-kie/kiekie/kiek-kie – pronounced "key-ki"; refers to a ...
Word order in Afrikaans follows broadly the same rules as in Dutch: in main clauses, the finite verb appears in "second position" (V2 word order), while subordinate clauses (e.g. content clauses and relative clauses) have subject–object–verb order, with the verb at (or near) the end of the clause.
Words of Afrikaans origin have entered other languages. British English has absorbed Afrikaans words primarily via British soldiers who served in the Boer Wars . Many more words have entered common usage in South African English due to the parallel nature of the English and Afrikaner cultures in South Africa .
Most Afrikaans words using c begin with the digraph ch , pronounced , such as Christelik ("Christian") or chemie ("chemistry") with some exceptions like confetti, although Afrikaans dictionaries may also list more phonetic alternative spellings using k or sj , such as kronies for chronies ("chronic", similar to Dutch chronisch) and sjirurg for ...
The Handwoordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (HAT) is a shorter, concise Afrikaans explanatory dictionary in a single volume, compared to the comprehensive Woordeboek van die Afrikaanse Taal (WAT), similar to the Concise Oxford Dictionary and the Oxford English Dictionary. The project was begun in 1926 by Prof. J. J. Smith of Stellenbosch ...
(Informal) a ditzy woman (derogatory term), from the Afrikaans word pop, meaning a doll. potjie A cast iron dutch oven. robot Besides the standard meaning, in South Africa this is also used for traffic lights. The etymology of the word derives from a description of early traffic lights as robot policemen, which then got truncated with time. [34 ...
The sequence /ans/ in words such as dans (meaning "dance") is realised as [ãːs]. In monosyllabic words, that is the norm. [19] The sequence /ɑːns/ in more common words (such as Afrikaans) is realized as either [ɑ̃ːs] or [ɑːns]. In less common words (such as Italiaans, meaning Italian), [ɑːns] is the usual pronunciation. [19]