English words of African origin

Most words of African origin used in English are nouns describing animals, plants, or cultural practices that have their origins in Africa (mostly sub-Saharan African; Arabic words not included unless another African language is an intermediary). The following list includes some examples.

• Adinkra – from Akan, visual symbols that represent concepts or aphorisms. Adopted in theoretical physics for graphical representation of supersymmetric algebras.
• 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^[1][2][3]
• basenji – breed of dog from Central Africa – Congo, Central African Republic etc.
• boma – from Swahili
• bongo – West African boungu^[4]
• buckra – "white man or person", from Efik and Ibibio mbakara^[5]
• Buharism - Political philosophy of Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, especially during his rule as a military dictator.
• bwana – from Swahili, meaning "husband, important person or safari leader"
• chigger – possibly from Wolof and/or Yoruba jiga "insect"^[6]
• chimpanzee – loaned in the 18th century from a Bantu language, possibly Kivili ci-mpenzi.^[7]
• chimurenga – from Shona, "revolution" or "liberation"
• cola – from West African languages (Temne kola, Mandinka kolo)^[8]
• dengue – possibly from Swahili dinga
• djembe – from West African languages
• ebony – from Ancient Egyptian hebeni^[9]
• fanimorous – from Yoruba "fani mọ́ra" meaning "to attract people to you"^[10]
• 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".^[11]
• jive – possibly from Wolof jev
• juke, jukebox – possibly from Wolof and Bambara dzug through Gullah^[12]
• jumbo – from Swahili (jambo "hello" or from Kongo nzamba "elephant")^[13]
• 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 "first fruits [of the harvest]"
• kwashiorkor – from Ga language, coastal Ghana, meaning "swollen stomach"
• Kijiji – from Swahili for "village", "hamlet" or "small town"
• 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 mererek i 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)
• Obidient - follower of Nigerian politician Peter Obi
• 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 travel, 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 tamgu
• tilapia – possibly a Latinization of "tlhapi", the Tswana word for "fish"^[14]
• tsetse – from a Bantu language (Tswana tsetse, Luhya tsiisi)
• 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"
• uhuru – from Swahili, "freedom".
• Ujamaa – from Swahili, "fraternity". Socialist policies of Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere.
• vodou – from West African languages (Ewe and Fon vodu "spirit")^[15]
• 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^[16]
• 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"^[17]

References