noun
-
taboo (in southern Africa) any Black African
-
offensive (among Muslims) a non-Muslim or infidel
Sensitive Note
In reference to a Black person, Kaffir was a neutral term during the colonial period, but in post-apartheid South Africa it is considered hate speech, to be avoided by using the euphemistic K-word, much like the N-word.
Usage
In South Africa the use of this word is nowadays completely taboo, and is indeed actionable in the courts. It is also advisable not to use the word in any of the compounds to which it gave rise
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of Kaffir
First recorded in 1570–80; from Arabic kāfir “unbeliever, skeptic”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
In the tasting room, adorned with vintage family photos, there are about two dozen dark-glass spritz bottles, each labeled hazelnoot, Kaffir lime, oranje-bloesem and an assortment of other fruits, nuts, herbs, flowers and spices.
From Washington Post ● Nov. 18, 2021
Lemon grass, ginger, Kaffir lime leaves or amchur, a tart preserved Indian mango, can have similar brightening effects.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 23, 2015
For tom yam, the spicy soup infused with Kaffir lime leaves and coriander, for instance, researchers posted notices at the prestigious Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, requesting 120 tasters.
From New York Times ● Sep. 28, 2014
He’ll serve it over sticky rice topped with red-curry coconut sauce from a 10-gallon batch and a slaw of Kaffir lime leaf, zucchini, carrots and peanuts, topped with micro-cilantro leaves.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 27, 2014
Then the farmers planted Kaffir corn because it grows easily, and because they needed a network of roots to hold down the soil.
From Abroad at Home American Ramblings, Observations, and Adventures of Julian Street by Julian Street
The battalion tents are pitched among the rocks orPg 26 by the river side, where Kaffirs bathe more often and completely than you would otherwise suppose.
From Ladysmith The Diary of a Siege by Henry W. Nevinson
This assuredly being more to my taste, I gladly quitted the isibaya, and, passing from the outer enclosure, found myself in the midst of a large number of Kaffirs, waiting with everything prepared.
From Richard Galbraith, Mariner Life among the Kaffirs by Emma Watts Phillips
Under British administration the war was carried on at first by regulars only, but when these were defeated by the Kaffirs, an army of Swazies, as well as Volunteers, was collected.
From A Century of Wrong by F. W. Reitz
The people here were of every colour and denomination,—English, Dutch, Portuguese, Chinamen, Malays, Negroes, Kaffirs, Hottentots, Fingoes, and Mohammedans, white and black, red and yellow, with every intermediate shade.
From Sporting Scenes amongst the Kaffirs of South Africa by A. W. (Alfred Wilks) Drayson
In the latter part of the eighteenth century we have the clash of the Hottentots and Bechuana, followed in the nineteenth century by the terrible wars of Chaka, the Kaffirs, and Matabili.
From The Negro by W. E. B. (William Edward Burghardt) Du Bois
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
