The story
- Arabic · derived fromحَرَام
- Hausa · derived fromboko“fake, often said of Western education”
- English todayBoko Haram
From Hausa boko (“fake, often said of Western education”) + haram (“forbidden”), from Arabic حَرَام (ḥarām). Literally, “Western education is forbidden”.
Words from the same roots
Hausaboko all →
bogusboko
Arabicحَرَام all →
haram
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.