Here follows a list of words you are likely to encounter in conversation with South Africans. Languages are freely mixed in South Africa; nothing is sacred.
Afrikaans is South Africa’s own language, born of kitchen Dutch spoken in the colony’s early days. Arguably sexier than French, but not quite as correct as Her Majesty’s English, Afrikaans is abused daily all over South Africa as one of its many languages. It truly is a beautiful language, one that is alive and morphing all the time.
Not only is Afrikaans an extremely descriptive language, the Afrikaans speaking populace are incredibly skilled at creating new words on the fly by simply combing words at their pleasure. Also be especially careful of double negatives, and straight contradictions, like “ja-nee”. The results are very often absolutely hilarious.
Much of this has crept into daily use even for English-speaking South Africans who have Anglicised many of the words and phrases for themselves: watch out for “now-now”, and “just now”.
| Word / Phrase | Direct Translation | Meaning / Origin |
|---|---|---|
| baas | boss | |
| babbelas | hungover / hangover | Zulu origin |
| Bafana Bafana | national football team | |
| bakkie | pick-up truck | |
| bangbroek | scared pants | scaredy-pants |
| bergie | mountain person | vagrant (homeless people sleeping on Table Mountain) |
| biltong | cured meat | Beef, kudu, springbok, ostrich, spiced and air-dried |
| bliksem | punch, hit | |
| boer | farmer | |
| boeretroos | farmer's comfort | coffee |
| boerewors | famer's sausage | sausage for the braai, generally fairly spicy, fatty beef |
| boet | brother | |
| Bokke | Sprinboks | the national rugby team |
| bokkie | diminutive of bok (buck) | sweetheart |
| boma | an enclosure, especially for animals | |
| braai | barbeque | OK not quite a barbecue, but close. The National pasttime |
| brak | ||
| bru / bro | from the Afrikaans broer, meaning brother | |
| cozzie | bathing suit (from the English "costume") | |
| dagga | cannabis | an Afrikaans word derived from from Khoikhoi "dachab" |
| diesel en dam | diesel and dam (water) | |
| dankie | thank you | |
| dikbek | thick mouth | grumpy |
| doff | dull | stupid |
| dop | alcoholic beverage | |
| dronk | drunk | what happens when you have to much dop |
| howzit | hi | |
| ja-nee | yes-no | |
| jol | party | |
| just now | soon | see also: now now |
| kief | nice | |
| klap | slap | |
| kloof | gorge | |
| koppie | hillock | |
| kreef | crayfish | |
| lapa | semi-open structure with a (thatched) roof | |
| lekker | nice | |
| mamparra | idiot | |
| mampoer | witblits made from peaches | |
| miggie | midge | |
| 'n Boer maak 'n plan | a farmer makes a plan | |
| net nou | just now | |
| now-now | nou nou | translated literally from the Afrikaans phrase nou nou, don't expect anything to happen in a hurry at all! |
| oom | uncle | not limited to actual family, this is a respectful form of addressing an older, unknown male person |
| padkos | road food | food prepared for a road-trip |
| papsak | soft bag | Afrikaans word referring to the bag inside box wine |
| potjie | cooking pot | generally referring to a 3-legged cooking pot, and most often to the dish prepared therein |
| roosterkoek | grid cake | bread dough cooked over the coals |
| sarmie | sandwich | |
| sharp | OK, cool | |
| shebeen | township drinking establishment | |
| skattie | treasure | darling |
| spook en diesel | ghost and diesel | |
| stoep | verandah | |
| stukkend | broken | often used to describe a drunk person |
| tannie | aunt | not limited to actual family, this is a respectful form of addressing an older, unknown female person |
| takkies / tekkies | sneakers | |
| tokoloshe | Mythical evil little man (Zulu) | |
| twak | tobacco | used to mean nonsense, as in: Jy praat twak (You speak nonsense) |
| vetkoek | fat cake | deep-fried dough, savory or sweet |
| witblits | white lightning | spirit distilled from practically anything (see also: mampoer) |
| yebo | yes |
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