Boer

American  

[bawr, bohr, boor, boor] / bɔr, boʊr, bʊər, bur /

noun

1. a South African of Dutch extraction.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Boers.

Boer British  

/ ˈbəʊə, bʊə, bɔː /

noun

1. 1. a descendant of any of the Dutch or Huguenot colonists who settled in South Africa, mainly in Cape Colony, the Orange Free State, and the Transvaal

   2. ( as modifier )

      a Boer farm

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Etymology

Origin of Boer

First recorded in 1825–35; Afrikaans, from Dutch: “peasant, farmer”; see boor

Example Sentences

In 1904, at 23, she married David Freeman-Mitford, a Boer War veteran who soon, unexpectedly, became Baron Redesdale after the deaths of his elder brother and father.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

De Boer focuses on the kind of fare a traveler craves when coming in from the cold: venison and Sherry pie, spit-roasted duck, cups of warming bone broth.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 27, 2026

But they were kept in the match by goalkeeper Jan de Boer, who pulled off a string of fine stops and saved a second-half penalty.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2025

But the team has not come close to matching the success it had during the two-year tenure of its first coach, Tata Martino, or in the first year of his successor, Frank de Boer.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 3, 2024

“But everyone else— Harry, Mrs. De Boer, too—oh what will become of them?”

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom