Skip to main content
African

African

1.0
Relating to Africa, its people, or its cultures
  • adjective
  • /ˈæfrɪkən/
translation icon : africano
  • The wild dogs, the African wild dogs, always hunt in groups.
  • African American
  • African Americans
  • African and Hispanic

You may well ask why focus on African women as change agents?

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Art & Soul also hosted a traveling exhibition of African sculpture from the Art Institute's collections.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Tell your congregation that they should celebrate the first African Pope in the history of the church.

  • You may well ask why focus on African women as change agents?

  • But they also have that African influence you need a little.

  • And I like to think that Dan turned that African moment into today.

  • But the problem, I think, is that African governments change.

  • There is an African plant called the Iboga plant.

  • But I usually go to this really cute African braiding salon by my house.

  • Essentially, Lake Turkana is an African Arrow Sea in the making.

  • Many talented African artists gather in the city for an annual cultural festival.

Compounds

220 1.3

A person in the United States whose family comes from Africa, often for many generations

199 2.8

A person in the United States whose family came from Africa, often brought there as slaves

72 1.4

A person from South Africa

A country in Africa

7 2.7

Relating to the countries, people, and culture of East Africa

African elephant
  • South African
3 1.7

A very large gray land animal with a long trunk, big ears, and long tusks

A person from Africa who has dark skin

African violet
  • South African
1 4.3

A small African plant with soft fuzzy leaves and violet, white, or pink flowers kept indoors

A landlocked country in central Africa that became independent from France in 1960

A water frog from Africa without a tongue that has claws and is often used in labs

1 5.2

A medium-sized grey parrot from Africa that is very intelligent and copies human speech

Music created by Black Americans, like spirituals, blues, and jazz

A plant with bright green leaves and clusters of deep blue flowers often grown in gardens

A bushy plant that lives for many years and has white or violet flowers with blue centers

Money used in six Central African countries

The money used in the Central African Republic is the same as the CFA franc used by several countries

A tall African tree with wood that smells nice and lasts a long time for making furniture and houses

5.6

A way of speaking English used by many Black people in the United States

African bowstring hemp
  • South African
7.4

A South African plant whose long, strong leaves people use to make rope

A way of speaking English used by many African Americans with its own grammar, words, and sounds

African chameleon
  • Specialized
6.5

A lizard from Africa that can change color and move its eyes separately

African crocodile
  • South African
3.9

A large, dangerous crocodile that lives in African rivers and lakes

African coral snake
  • South African
8.9

A small snake that lives in trees in southern Africa with black and orange bands

A low shrub with yellow daisy-like flowers that prefers warm, dry places

A garden plant with bright daisy-like flowers that grows well in hot sun

African green monkey
  • South African
6.2

A monkey that lives on the African savanna with greenish-grey fur and a yellow tail

African golden wolf
  • South African
7.9

A wild dog-like animal from northern Africa related to jackals and wolves

African hemp
  • South African
9.6

A large shrub with many hairy branches, large hairy leaves and white flowers

African holly
  • Indian
9.6

A small bush from Africa and southern Asia with silvery branches, blue or white flowers, and red berries

African hemp
  • South African
9.1

A strong fibrous plant with long stiff leaves used for making rope

African lily
  • South African
6.8

A plant from Africa with green leaves and large groups of violet-blue flowers

African hunting dog
  • South African
5.3

A large wild dog from Africa that lives and hunts in packs

A tall garden plant with bright yellow or orange flowers

African love grass
  • South African
7.4

A grass from South Africa that grows in clumps and is often planted to stop soil erosion

African mahogany
  • South African
7.0

A tree from Africa with hard reddish-brown wood used for furniture and building

8.7

A plant that grows in dry regions and has seeds used to make a somewhat bitter flour

African massage
  • South African
5.2

A body treatment from Africa that uses hand movements to relax muscles

African monitor
  • South African
8.4

A large meat-eating lizard found in Africa with a strong body and long tail

African oil palm
  • South African
5.3

A tall tropical tree from West Africa whose fruit is used to make palm oil

African sandalwood
  • South African
9.4

A small African bush with hard red wood that people use to make dye

African scented mahogany
  • South African
8.6

A tree from Africa with lightweight, reddish-brown wood that smells like cedar

8.9

Leaves of a plant that people chew or brew as tea to feel more awake and a little happy

African time
  • Offensive
9.5

A relaxed way of keeping time when people often arrive later than planned

African tulip
  • South African
9.6

A tropical tree with bright green leaves and large orange-red flowers

African wild ass
  • South African
7.2

A wild donkey from dry northeastern Africa that is the ancestor of the domestic donkey

African walnut
  • South African
7.7

A tropical African tree with hard dark wood used for furniture

African yellowwood
  • South African
8.2

A South African tree or shrub with a rounded crown and strong, beautiful wood

South African yellowwood
  • South African
9.4

A tree or shrub from southern Africa with strong yellow wood used for furniture

Money used in eight West African countries, for example Senegal and Mali

A group of languages spoken in West Africa, for example Yoruba and Wolof

How African

African
1.0
Africanized
1 6.7
foreign
481 3.4

Surface Forms

African positive

Morphology

African = Africa (transparent) = Africa + an

Direct and productive demonym/adjectival formation from 'Africa' using the common suffix '-an', so the meaning is obvious to learners.

Etymology

African comes from the name Africa, which the Romans used for the continent. A helpful way to remember it is that African means 'from Africa' or 'relating to Africa', so we use it for peoples, cultures, and things of that continent.