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• Afro
  Afro

  noun

  a hairstyle originating with Black people, in which naturally curly or frizzy hair is cut into a full, bushy shape all over the head.
• Afro-
  Afro-

  a combining form of Africa.

Afro

¹ American  

[af-roh] / ˈæf roʊ /

noun

• Afros
  plural

1. a hairstyle originating with Black people, in which naturally curly or frizzy hair is cut into a full, bushy shape all over the head.

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adjective

1. of or relating to African Americans or to Black traditions, culture, etc..

   Afro societies.

Afro- ² American  

1. a combining form of Africa.

   Afro-American; Afro-Asiatic.

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Afro ¹ British  

/ ˈæfrəʊ /

noun

1. a hairstyle in which the hair is shaped into a wide frizzy bush

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Afro- ² British  

combining form

1. indicating Africa or African

   Afro-Asiatic

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• Afros
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Afro¹

First recorded in 1965–70; independent use of Afro-

Origin of Afro-²

< Latin Āfr- (stem of Āfer an African) + -o-

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

Afro Afro- Afros

It was also great for Johnson Products: Sales of Afro Sheen soared.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026

Pio Pico, the last governor of Mexican California, was — like many of the settlers who had founded the city of Los Angeles in 1781 — probably a man with Afro Mexican origins.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2026

After teaching a quick lesson on Charles Mingus, she produced a bright yellow record jacket with a photograph of a bearded man with an Afro, wearing a tight yellow T-shirt and beaming confidently.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026

"Where we're at now there's so much, there's Afro gospel, there's R&B, there's rap and it's touching on so many different matters."

From BBC ● Mar. 6, 2026

The sixth photo was a high school graduation picture of Dad, his Afro so big, it didn’t fit in the frame.

From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas

Kings, clergy, and scholars helped to preserve the classical past and maintain diplomatic and economic ties across western Afro- Eurasia.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

Such was the world of the Mediterranean basin and Afro- Eurasia in the middle of the fourteenth century when the bubonic plague ravaged central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa, and Europe.

From Textbooks ● Apr. 19, 2023

The unrest began in the north London suburb of Tottenham on Aug. 6, after a local man of Afro- Caribbean origin, Mark Duggan, was killed in a shootout with police.

From BusinessWeek ● Aug. 9, 2011

"There is a mood of Afro- pessimism," says Serageldin.

From Time Magazine Archive

After lunch, His Excellency spoke to the guests of his American encounters with discrimination, and of friendships he had made with Afro- Americans, and he reaffirmed the bonds between Africans and Afro-Americans.

From "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Malcolm X;Hailey

That meant little to us as teens wearing big ties and platform shoes, listening to rock and roll while even white guys sported Afros and we all began dancing to disco.

From Salon ● Jan. 2, 2025

Then in 2019, California became the first state to prohibit discrimination based on hairstyles including Afros and braids.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 7, 2023

This was the mid-’70s, the apex of outlandish sideburns, ABA Afros and glittering Cadillacs.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2023

“And we belong with our Afros, with our sisterlocks, with our braids, with our bald heads.”

From Washington Post ● Apr. 8, 2022

Afros today are rare, dashikis even rarer; Black Panther founder Bobby Seale is best known today for peddling a line of barbecue products.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt