different between kaffir vs bantu

English

Alternative forms

• Caffer, caffre, kaffer, Kaffir, Kaffre, kafir, kaphar, kaphir, kafari

Etymology

Ultimately from Arabic ???????? (kaff?r, “infidel”) or ??????? (k?fir, “unbeliever”), both from ??????? (kafara, “to cover, to hide”); in some (especially early) uses, via Spanish cafre, Dutch kaffer or other European languages.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?kæf?/

Noun

kaffir (countable and uncountable, plural kaffirs)

1. (countable, offensive) In Islamic contexts, a non-Muslim. [from 16th c.]
   • 1804, Archibald Duncan, The Mariner's Chronicle, I:

     He […] put me in imminent danger of my life, by telling the natives that I was a Caffer, and not a Mussulman.

2. (countable, offensive) A member of the Nguni people of southern Africa, especially a Xhosa. [from 16th c.]
   • 1792, The Analytical Review, Or History of Literature, Domestic and Foreign, on an Enlarged Plan, Volume 14:

     … the Hambonaas, a nation quite different from the Kaffers, having a yellowish complexion […].

3. (countable, South Africa, Rhodesia, ethnic slur, offensive, derogatory) A black person. [from 17th c.]
   • 1959, Alf Ross, On Law and Justice:

     If you ask a Kaffir why he does so-and-so, he will answer—"How can I tell? It has always been done by our forefathers."

   • 1971, Naboth Mokgatle, The Autobiography of an Unknown South African:

     I once heard him say to the gardener, 'Come along, son.' His wife scolded him saying, 'He's not son, don't call him son, he's a kaffir.'

   • 1998, Antjie Krog, Country of My Skull:

     "… and today here a white man is calling me a kaffir. This term that I absolutely resented." And that, says Nofomela, is his political motive.
4. (uncountable, now historical, offensive) A language spoken by the Nguni peoples of southern Africa, especially Xhosa. [from 19th c.]
   • 1952, Doris Lessing, Martha Quest, Panther 1974, p. 73:

     This man, seeing a white person enter, moved aside for her, but she saw Joss's eyes on her, and said in kitchen kaffir, ‘No, when you've finished.’

5. (finance, slang, historical) South African mining shares [from early 20th c.]
   • 1907 Truth, Vol 62, pg 688

     Kaffirs bouyant most of last week

Usage notes

This word was widely used in the nineteenth and early twentieth century. Since the mid-twentieth century it has been regarded as derogatory.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• kafir
• Kaffir (ethnic slur) in Wikipedia

Finnish

(index b)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?ntu/, [?b?n?t?u]
• Rhymes: -?ntu
• Syllabification: ban?tu

Noun

bantu

1. Bantu

Declension

Derived terms

Anagrams

• tabun

Hungarian

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?ntu]
• Hyphenation: ban?tu
• Rhymes: -tu

Adjective

bantu (not comparable)

1. Bantu

Declension

Noun

bantu (countable and uncountable, plural bantuk)

1. Bantu (group or person)
2. Bantu (language)

Declension

Further reading

• bantu in Ittzés, Nóra (ed.). A magyar nyelv nagyszótára (’A Comprehensive Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 2006–2031 (work in progress; published A–ez as of 2021)

Indonesian

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?bant?u]
• Hyphenation: ban?tu

Verb

bantu (used in the form membantu)

1. to help.

   Synonym: tolong

Noun

bantu (plural bantu-bantu, first-person possessive bantuku, second-person possessive bantumu, third-person possessive bantunya)

1. assistant, helper

   Synonym: penolong

Affixed terms

Further reading

• “bantu” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia (KBBI) Daring, Jakarta: Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, Kementerian Pendidikan dan Kebudayaan Republik Indonesia, 2016.

Italian

Adjective

bantu (invariable)

1. Bantu

Noun

bantu m or f (invariable)

1. Bantu

Norwegian Bokmål

Noun

bantu m (definite singular bantuen, indefinite plural bantuer, definite plural bantuene)

1. a Bantu (person who speaks a Bantu language)
2. a collective term for all Bantu speakers
3. a Bantu language

Related terms

• bantuspråk

References

• “bantu” in The Bokmål Dictionary.
• “bantu” in Det Norske Akademis ordbok (NAOB).

Norwegian Nynorsk

Noun

bantu m (definite singular bantuen, indefinite plural bantuar, definite plural bantuane)

1. a Bantu (person who speaks a Bantu language)
2. a collective term for all Bantu speakers
3. a Bantu language

Related terms

• bantuspråk

References

• “bantu” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romanian

Etymology

From French Bantou

Noun

bantu m (uncountable)

1. Bantu

Declension