Meanings
nounbaasskap (uncountable)
alternative baaskaap · alternative baaskap · alternative basskap · alternative basskaap
- South AfricauncountableDominion, control, or supremacy, especially of white South Africans over nonwhite peoples.
African teachers were not permitted to criticize the government or any school authority. It was intellectual baasskap, a way of institutionalising inferiority.
1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom: The Autobiography of Nelson Mandela, London: Abacus, published 2010, page 195
Origin
- Afrikaansbaasskap
- Englishbaasskap
Borrowed from Afrikaans baasskap, from baas (“boss”) + -skap (“hood”).
More words from Afrikaans
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
baasskap. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/baasskap
MLA
“baasskap.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/baasskap. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “baasskap,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/baasskap.
Source: baasskap on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.