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

See Examples For:

Boer

The war was fought between 1899 and 1902 between the British Empire and the two independent Boer states who were vying for control of South Africa.

From BBC ● May 12, 2026

Lengthy appendices compare its versions of episodes such as the Battle of Omdurman and the Boer War with earlier accounts Churchill gave to newspapers and magazines such as Cosmopolitan and Strand.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 22, 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

"With a host of issues driving our environmental challenges down society's priority list, events like Earth Day remind us of the long-term cost of short-termism," said Yvo de Boer, former UN climate chief.

From BBC ● Apr. 21, 2025

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

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom