Kafir
Americannoun
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Also called Nuristani. a member of an Indo-European people of Nuristan.
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Islam. none kafir a person who has no religious faith; unbeliever.
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Also called kafir corn. none kafir Also kaffir. a grain sorghum, Sorghum bicolor caffrorum, having stout, short-jointed, leafy stalks, introduced into the United States from southern Africa.
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of Kafir
First recorded in 1830–40 as Kaffirs; see origin at Kaffir
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:
"Kafir" is one spelling of an Arabic word commonly used for "unbeliever".
From BBC ● Nov. 10, 2023
She writes of attending the wedding of a young girl, a native of the Kafir tribe: “Kafir girls dread being married, for it is simply taking a hard place without wages.”
From Washington Post ● Jun. 25, 2020
“We fill a niche,” said Nemi Ashkar during a tour of his winery in Kafir Yassif.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 4, 2019
The Ashkar family’s love of winemaking did not diminish with their move to Kafir Yassif, 30 km away.
From The Guardian ● Oct. 4, 2019
He returned in three months laden with the spoils of the chase, and designated the White Somtsen, or, in the Kafir language, a mighty hunter.
From Jasper Lyle by Ward, Harriet
Indeed it would not be surprising if it turned out that the expedition across the Bashi was a cunningly devised trap, not originating with the Kafirs either.
From 'Tween Snow and Fire A Tale of the Last Kafir War by Mitford, Bertram
But although he employed all his resources in endeavouring to subject the Kafirs of Bolor, or Kafiristan as it is now called, he was unable to make any permanent additions in this direction.
From The Life of Yakoob Beg Athalik Ghazi, and Badaulet; Ameer of Kashgar by Boulger, Demetrius Charles
All idea of attacking it was given up for the present, and, at the close of day, several Kafirs, graceful, gentle, dignified, and smiling, came to offer milk and corn and wood for sale.
From Jasper Lyle by Ward, Harriet
This was Usivulele, the man whom he had held as a hostage, after the fight with the Hottentot Levy, when he had allowed the Kafirs to look after their wounded.
From The Fire Trumpet A Romance of the Cape Frontier by Mitford, Bertram
On the walls and in corners were several flint-lock guns, and one or two of the short light javelins used by the Kafirs for throwing in battle, named assagais.
From The Settler and the Savage by Ballantyne, R. M. (Robert Michael)
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.
