kraal

American  

[krahl] / krɑl /

Or craal

noun

1. an enclosure for cattle and other domestic animals in southern Africa.

2. a village of the Native peoples of South Africa, usually surrounded by a stockade or the like and often having a central space for livestock.

3. such a village as a social unit.

4. an enclosure where wild animals are exhibited, as in a zoo.

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verb (used with object)

1. to shut up in an enclosure or pen, as cattle.

kraal British  

/ krɑːl /

noun

1. a hut village in southern Africa, esp one surrounded by a stockade

2. an enclosure for livestock

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adjective

1. denoting or relating to the tribal aspects of the Black African way of life

verb

1. (tr) to enclose (livestock) in a kraal

Etymology

Origin of kraal

First recorded in 1725–35; from Afrikaans, from Portuguese curral “pen”; corral

Example Sentences

At night, the herders rounded up their animals into kraals, an Afrikaans word referring to fenced enclosures that kept both people and animals safe from predators.

From Science Magazine

As the sun was coming up, I brought the cows into the kraal, one by one, eight of them.

From Literature

We passed the turtle kraals, the pens at the dock where they kept giant sea turtles like a herd of cows.

From Literature

“You go straight from the cattle kraal into the house, where babies crawl around on the floor.”

From The Guardian

One of my brothers removed the barrier made of thick, cleverly intertwined branches that blocked the entrance to the big kraal, while the others, at my father’s orders, corralled and channelled the impatient cattle.

From The New Yorker