The story
- Dutch · derived fromkaffer
- English todaykaffir fink
Following a common pattern of naming South African flora and fauna kaffir (originally a neutral term for Bantu, now offensive) followed by an analogous European plant or animal. The compounding may have happened in English or Afrikaans; the components derive from Dutch kaffer and vink.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.