English words of African origin

Most words of African origin used in English are nouns describing animals, plants, or cultural practices that have their origins in Africa (mostly sub-Saharan African; Arabic words not included unless another African language is an intermediary). The following list includes some examples.


 * Adinkra – from Akan, visual symbols that represent concepts or aphorisms. Adopted in theoretical physics for graphical representation of supersymmetric algebras.
 * Andriana – from Malagasy, aristocratic noble class of the Kingdom of Madagascar
 * apartheid – from Afrikaans, "separateness"
 * Aṣẹ - from Yoruba, "I affirm" or "make it happen"
 * ammonia – from the Egyptian language in reference to the god Amun
 * Bantu - from Bantu languages, "people"
 * babalawo – from Yoruba, priest of traditional Yoruba religion
 * banana – adopted from Wolof via Spanish or Portuguese
 * banjo – from Mandinka bangoe, which refers to the Akonting
 * basenji – breed of dog from Central Africa – Congo, Central African Republic etc.
 * boma – from Swahili
 * bongo – West African
 * buckra – "white man or person", from Efik and Ibibio mbakara
 * Buharism - Political philosophy of Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, especially during his rule as a military dictator.
 * bwana – from Swahili, meaning "husband, important person or safari leader"
 * chigger – possibly from Wolof and/or Yoruba jiga "insect"
 * chimpanzee – loaned in the 18th century from a Bantu language, possibly Kivili ci-mpenzi.
 * chimurenga – from Shona, "revolution" or "liberation"
 * cola – from West African languages (Temne kola, Mandinka kolo)
 * dengue – possibly from Swahili dinga
 * djembe – from West African languages
 * ebony – from Ancient Egyptian hebeni
 * fanimorous – from Yoruba "fani mọ́ra" meaning "to attract people to you"
 * gerenuk – from Somali. A long-necked antelope in Eastern Africa (Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Djibouti)
 * gnu – from Khoisan !nu through Khoikhoi i-ngu and Dutch gnoe
 * goober – possibly from Bantu (Kikongo)
 * gumbo – from Bantu Kongo languages ngombo meaning "okra"
 * hakuna matata – from Swahili, "no trouble" or "no worries"
 * impala – from Zulu im-pala
 * impi – from Zulu language meaning "war, battle or a regiment"
 * indaba – from Xhosa or Zulu languages – "stories" or "news" typically conflated with "meeting" (often used in South African English)
 * japa – from Yoruba, "to flee"
 * jazz – possibly from Central African languages (Kongo) From the word ''jizzi”.
 * jenga – from the Swahili verb kujenga meaning "to build".
 * jive – possibly from Wolof jev
 * juke, jukebox – possibly from Wolof and Bambara through Gullah
 * jumbo – from Swahili (jambo "hello" or from Kongo nzamba "elephant")
 * kalimba
 * Kwanzaa – a recent coinage (Maulana Karenga 1965) for the name of an African American holiday, abstracted from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning "first fruits [of the harvest]"
 * kwashiorkor – from Ga language, coastal Ghana, meaning "swollen stomach"
 * Kijiji – from Swahili for "village", "hamlet" or "small town"
 * lapa – from Sotho languages – '"enclosure" or "barbecue area" (often used in South African English)
 * macaque – from Bantu makaku through Portuguese and French
 * mamba – from Zulu or Swahili mamba
 * marimba – from Bantu (Kongo languages)
 * marímbula – plucked musical instrument (lamellophone) of the Caribbean islands
 * merengue (dance) – possibly from Fulani meaning "to shake or quiver"
 * Mobutism – state ideology of Mobutu Sese Seko, the dictator of Zaire (now Democratic Republic of the Congo)
 * mojo – from Kongo  Moyoo "medicine man" through Louisiana Creole French or Gullah
 * mumbo jumbo – from Mandingo
 * mtepe – from Swahili, "boat"
 * mzungu – from Bantu languages, "wanderer"
 * nitrogen – from the Egyptian language. The salt natron, transliterated as nṯrj.
 * obeah – from West African (Efik ubio, Twi ebayifo)
 * Obidient - follower of Nigerian politician Peter Obi
 * okapi – from a language in the Congo
 * okra – from Igbo ókùrù
 * orisha – from Yoruba, "deity"
 * Osu – from Igbo, traditional caste system
 * oyinbo – from Yoruba, "skinless" or "peeled skin"
 * safari – from Swahili travel, ultimately from Arabic
 * sambo – Fula sambo meaning "uncle"
 * sangoma – from Zulu – "traditional healer" (often used in South African English)
 * shea – A tree and the oil Shea butter which comes from its seeds, comes from its name in Bambara
 * tango – probably from Ibibio
 * tilapia – possibly a Latinization of "tlhapi", the Tswana word for "fish"
 * tsetse – from a Bantu language (Tswana tsetse, Luhya )
 * ubuntu – Nguni term for "mankind, humanity", in South Africa since the 1980s also used capitalized, Ubuntu, as the name of a philosophy or ideology of "human kindness" or "humanism"
 * uhuru – from Swahili, "freedom".
 * Ujamaa – from Swahili, "fraternity". Socialist policies of Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere.
 * vodou – from West African languages (Ewe and Fon vodu "spirit")
 * vuvuzela – musical instrument, name of Zulu or Nguni origin
 * yam – West African (Fula nyami, Twi anyinam)
 * zebra – of unknown origin, recorded since c. 1600, from Portuguese ‘ezebro’, used of an Iberian animal, in turn possibly ultimately from Latin ‘equiferus’, but a Congolese language, or alternatively Amharic have been put forward as possible origins
 * zimbabwe – from Shona, "house of stones" or "venerated houses"
 * zombie – likely from West African (compare Kikongo zumbi "fetish", but alternatively derived from Spanish sombra "shade, ghost"