kaffir

plural kaffirs · alternative Caffer · alternative caffre · alternative kaffer · alternative Kaffir · alternative Kaffre · alternative kafir · alternative kaphar · alternative kaphir · alternative kafari · alternative obsolete coffery · alternative obsolete coffree · alternative obsolete coffry

1. countableoffensiveIn Islamic contexts, a non-Muslim.First known use 16th c.

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

   1804, Archibald Duncan, The Mariner's Chronicle, section I

2. countableoffensiveA member of the Nguni people of southern Africa, especially a Xhosa.First known use 16th c.

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

   1792, The Analytical Review, Or History of Literature, Domestic and Foreign, on an Enlarged Plan, volume 14

3. NamibiaRhodesiaSouth AfricacountablederogatoryethnicoffensiveslurA black person.First known use 17th c.

   I rang the bell, and a smiling Kafir boy answered it.

   1924, Agatha Christie, The Man in the Brown Suit

   4 more examples

   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."

   1959, Alf Ross, On Law and Justice

   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.'

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

   "… 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.

   1998, Antjie Krog, Country of My Skull

   Monkey see, monkey do ... which in this case refers to the baboons in Rhodesia - proves just how vulnerable the whities are in the hands of the kaffirs.

   2000 April 9, Squirrel, “SA Silence on Mugabe's actions”, in soc.culture.south-africa (Usenet)

4. historicaloffensiveuncountableA language spoken by the Nguni peoples of southern Africa, especially Xhosa.First known use 19th c.

   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.’

   1952, Doris Lessing, Martha Quest, Panther, published 1974, page 73

5. countablehistoricalslanguncountablebusinessSouth African mining sharesFirst known use early 20th c.

   Kaffirs bouyant most of last week

   1907, Truth, volume 62, page 688

6. abbreviationellipsisuncountableEllipsis of kaffir corn.

   This market reports only one or two cars per day, selling by the hundred weight, and at a price a little lower than that of Indian corn. As to the purpose for which the marketed kaffir is used, there is some uncertainty.

   1907, Texas Agricultural, Mechanical College System, Bulletin, volumes 93-117, page 5

plural Kaffirs

1. Alternative letter-case form of kaffir.