List of South African slang words

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Poes" redirects here. For the weather satellite constellation, see Polar Operational Environmental Satellites.

South African slang refers to unique informal language that is used by South Africans. South Africa is a culturally and ethnically diverse country with twelve official languages and a population known for its multilingualism.[1] Mixing languages in everyday conversations, social media interactions, and musical compositions is a common practice.[citation needed]

The list provided below outlines frequently used terms and phrases used in South Africa. This compilation also includes borrowed slang from neighboring countries such as Botswana, Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), Lesotho, and Namibia. Additionally, it may encompass linguistic elements from Eastern African nations like Mozambique and Zimbabwe based on the United Nations geoscheme for Africa.[citation needed]

Curse words and slurs[edit]

South Africa is a country formed from centuries of immigrants, settlers, and colonisers. It has a long history of using racial slurs or derogatory phrases when speaking of the other. Some such words have more recently been reclaimed as a mark of pride and defiance (for example, coloured).[citation needed]

"Voetsek", or simply "tsek", is a fun way of telling someone to "fuck off". This is also used to scare unwanted animals away.[citation needed]

"Jou Ma se kont" or "Jou Ma se poes" is a derogatory phrase that literally translates to "Your Mom's hole" or "Your Mom's vagina". The term originates from Cape Western where it is most closely associated with the slang used by the Coloured community. This is often seen as more aggressive than the aforementioned phrase "voetsek".[citation needed] Although still seen as offensive, over time it has become a less aggressive adjective used as an exclamation. Such as "it is poes cold" when describing a surprisingly cold temperature.[2]

Colloquial phrases[edit]

Time[edit]

Normally, in other English-speaking countries, when you say you're doing something "now", you would assume it means that you will do said thing right away[citation needed]. In South Africa, the phrases "now now", "just now", and "right now" all have differing connotations: "Now now" often means minutes later; "just now" means hours later; and "right now" actually means now.[citation needed]

For example, the following line using South African slang:

"I am going to see a movie just now. I will drive there now now. I am at the movies right now."

...actually has the following meaning in standard usage:

"I am going to see a movie in an hour or so. I will (start to) drive there in a few minutes. I am at the movies now."

Slang words from English[edit]

South Africa uses British English spelling and punctuation, although some American spellings are common.[citation needed]

  • canyon crab – derogatory term for Afrikaaner[3]
  • clutchplate – derogatory term for Afrikaaner[3]
  • cozzie – a swimsuit, short for swimming costume[4]
  • Dutchman – derogatory term for Afrikaner[3]
  • rockspider – derogatory term for Afrikaner.[3]
  • zamalek – Black Label Lager, locally brewed under licence; derived from the Egyptian football team of the same name because of the team colours. A very popular local beer because of its high alcohol content.[5]

Slang words from Afrikaans (Afrikanerisms)[edit]

A–M[edit]

  • ja-nee – literally "yes-no", an expression of positive confirmation.[6] Example : Dis warm vandag. ("It's hot today") : Ja-nee ("Indeed")

N–Z[edit]

Words from Khoi languages[edit]

  • aitsa – is usually used when exclaiming agreement like you would when saying "sweet!", "nice!", "lekker!", and "got it!".
  • buchu – a wonderful smelling range of medicinal plants.[7]
  • dagga – marijuana (has become a mainstream word in South African English) (from Khoe daxa-b for Leonotis plant)[7]
  • eina – exclamation of pain, as in ouch (from Khoekhoe exclamation of pain or surprise)[7]
  • goggo – bug (from Khoe xo-xo, creeping things, here the g is pronounced like ch in Scottish loch)[7]
  • kaross – garment made of animal skin (from Khoe meaning skin blanket)[7]
  • kierie – a walking stick, or cane, usually made of wood. Primarily used by the elderly as general usage of a cane fell out of fashion among younger generations, though people still have a habit of when carrying a stick to use it as a walking stick, even though they don't necessarily need it.

Slang originating from other countries[edit]

The following slang words used in South African originated in other parts of the Commonwealth of Nations and subsequently came to South Africa.

  • bint – a girl, from Arabic بِنْت. Usually seen as derogatory.
  • buck – the main unit of currency: in South Africa the rand, and from the American use of the word for the dollar.
  • china – friend, mate (from Cockney rhyming slang china [plate] = "mate").
  • chow – to eat
  • coaster – a state of affairs that surpasses cool
  • pom – name for an English person originating from England
  • shab short for shebeen.

Slang originating from ethnic minorities[edit]

South African Coloured slang[edit]

The majority of Coloureds in South Africa speak Afrikaans. Those who speak English use the equivalent English words as slang.

  • gam – derogatory term for Coloured people in South Africa. Derived from "Gham" or "Ham" referring to Ham in the Old Testament. It is a reference to the children of Noah's son Ham who were illegitimate and cursed into slavery by God.[8][9]

South African Indian slang[edit]

South African Jewish slang[edit]

  • chattis, khateis (plural chatteisim, khateisim. Yiddish: "a sinner"): approximately equivalent to "white trash". The word refers particularly to poor, white, Afrikaans-speaking communities with endemic social problems. Sometimes used as an ethnic slur against Afrikaners in general. From Talmudic phrase Eyn bor yerey khet – a bor – (uncouth ignoramus) is not afraid of sin. The bor-Boer assonance gives a case for quibble: if not afraid of sin must be therefore a sinner.[11]
  • Peruvian / Peruvnik: a low-class, unmannered and unsophisticated person regardless of wealth, usually Jewish. The etymology is unclear.[12] (Theories: (a) Yiddish corruption of Parvenu;[13] (b) derives from an acronym for "Polish and Russian Union", supposedly a Jewish club founded in Kimberley in the 1870s, according to Bradford's Dictionary of South African English.[14]) The more assimilated and established Jews from Germany and England looked down on this group, and their descendants remain stigmatised.
  • Schwarzer: Yiddish / German for "black" – a black person
  • shiksa: as in other Jewish communities, this means "non-Jewish girl". Traditionally "slave-girl", from the Yiddish version of the Hebrew word for "dirty, unclean, loathsome"[15] In South Africa, however, it has the additional meaning of a "female domestic worker".

Example[edit]

South African English
An example of South African English regionalisms/slang (second language speaker)
Problems playing this file? See media help.

Jinne man, just put on your tekkies and your costume, don't be dof! We're going to walk to the beach and then go for a swim, if you want to come with you better hurry up, chyna. Ag nee, I stepped on a shongololo, I just bought new tekkies the other day! You know what, lets just forget about the beach and have a braai instead, all we need is some meat, mieliepap, some cooldrinks, maybe a brinjal and some other veggies. And if someone can bring some biscuits for a banofi pie, that would be great. Hey bru, it's a lekker day for a jol today, ek sê! I'm warning you my dad won't tolerate any gesuipery, he'll klap you stukkend! Is it? Ja, he's kwaai! He was tuning me just now from his bakkie my bokkie is a soutie and a rooinek. Eish! Well at least he's duidelik.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The NA approves South African Sign Language as the 12th official language" (Press release).
  2. ^ Broughton, Tania (29 February 2024). "Judges grapple with use of "ma se p…"". GroundUp News. Retrieved 3 March 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d "Woordebook". Roekeloos. QVRP. July 2009. Retrieved 1 August 2014.
  4. ^ Jean Branford (1980). A Dictionary of South African English. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-570177-1. Retrieved 20 May 2008.
  5. ^ "Africtionary – Zamalek definition". Africtionary. Retrieved 18 July 2021.
  6. ^ Kromhout, Jan (2001). Afrikaans–English, English–Afrikaans dictionary. New York, N.Y.: Hippocrene Books. p. 67. ISBN 9780781808460. Retrieved 16 October 2014.
  7. ^ a b c d e Branford, J. & Branford, W. 1991 A Dictionary of South African English
  8. ^ Mellet, Patrick. "What is meant by the term 'GHAM' when directed at 'Coloured' people". Retrieved 9 February 2012.
  9. ^ Wicomb, Zoë (1998). "Shame and identity; the case of the coloured in South Africa". In Derek Attridge; Rosemary Jane Jolly (eds.). Writing South Africa: literature, apartheid, and democracy 1970–1995. Cambridge University Press. p. 100. ISBN 9780521597685.
  10. ^ a b Mesthrie, Rajend. "South African Indian English", from Focus on South Africa. Vivian de Klerk, ed. 1996. pp.88–89.
  11. ^ Born to Kvetch: Yiddish Language and Culture in All of Its moods by Michael Wex p.88 ISBN 978-0-312-30741-7
  12. ^ "Archived copy". mendele.commons.yale.edu. Archived from the original on 12 December 2012. Retrieved 2 February 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  13. ^ Shimoni, Gideon (17 August 2017). Community and Conscience: The Jews in Apartheid South Africa. UPNE. ISBN 9781584653295. Retrieved 17 August 2017 – via Google Books.
  14. ^ "RootsWeb: BRITISH-JEWRY-L Fw: [AMJHISTORY] "Peruvian" Jews". archiver.rootsweb.Ancestry.com. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
  15. ^ Compare "Semitic roots" Archived 18 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_South_African_slang_words&oldid=1221965044"