afrikaans

1. 1.

   an official language of the Republic of South Africa; closely related to Dutch and Flemish

   SynonymsTaal

   BroaderDutch

1. 1.

   belonging or relating to white people of South Africa whose ancestors were Dutch or to their language

   “an Afrikaans couple”

   “Afrikaner support”

   SynonymsAfrikaner

Other forms of afrikaans

plural

afrikaanses·

Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.

Questions about afrikaans

What does afrikaans mean?

afrikaans means "an official language of the Republic of South Africa; closely related to Dutch and Flemish". That is the primary sense; the word has 2 in total, listed in full on this page.

How many syllables are in afrikaans?

afrikaans has 3 syllables: af-ri-kaans. The stress falls on "kaans". In IPA it is /ˌæfɹəˈkɑnz/.

What is another word for afrikaans?

Close synonyms include Taal, Afrikaner. Each sense on this page lists its own synonyms, because a word with several meanings rarely has one substitute that works for all of them.

Is afrikaans a common word?

afrikaans is banded "Uncommon" — turns up in careful writing rather than conversation. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.