[Elamur Dictionary](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/afrikaans/)

[dictionaries](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [English](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/) / [A](https://md.dictionary.elamur.ai/free/en/english/a/) / afrikaans

# afrikaans

noun (Afrikaans; uncountable); adjective (Afrikaans)

«afrikaans» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

Afrikaans is a language spoken in South Africa and Namibia. It grew from Dutch brought by settlers in the 1600s, with words from Malay, Portuguese, Khoekhoe and other languages. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/afrikaans/#m1)

### In the lessons

Used in geography and language lessons about South Africa (one of its official languages). English took some words from it: «aardvark», «trek», «meerkat».

### Examples

- Afrikaans is one of South Africa's official languages. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/afrikaans/#x1)
- «Dankie» means «thank you» in Afrikaans. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/afrikaans/#x2)
- The word «aardvark» comes from Afrikaans and means «earth pig». [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/afrikaans/#x3)
- My friend from Cape Town speaks English and Afrikaans. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/afrikaans/#x4)
- Afrikaans is closely related to Dutch. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/afrikaans/#x5)
- We listened to a song in Afrikaans. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/afrikaans/#x6)

### Note

Written with a capital A. Pronounced af-ri-KAHNS. A person who speaks it as their family language may be called an Afrikaner (mainly for white Afrikaans speakers), but many people of colour also speak Afrikaans.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «afrikaans» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/A/afrikaans/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«afrikaans» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/afrikaans.html) on Mova free.