List of English words of African origin

This is a list of English language words that come from any of the Sub-Saharan African languages. It excludes placenames except where they have become common words.

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Words of West African origin

• banana - West African, possibly Wolof banana
• bogus - Hausa boko-boko meaning fake or fraudulent
• bongo - West African boungu
• bozo - stupid, West African
• boogie - Wolof or Sierra Leone, to dance
• buckra - from Efik and Ibibio mbakara "white man or person"
• chigger - possibly from Wolof and Yoruba jiga "insect")
• chimpanzee - The name is derived from a Tshiluba language term "kivili-chimpenze", which is the local name for the animal and translates loosely as "mockman" or possibly just "ape".
• cola - from West African languages (Temne kola, Mandinka kolo)
• dig, in sense of understand or appreciate - from Wolof dega
• djembe - from West African languages [2]
• hip - from Wolof hipi and hepicat, one with eyes open
• jazz - from West African languages (Mandinka jasi, Temne yas)
• jive - possibly from Wolof jev
• juke, jukebox - possibly from Wolof and Bambara dzug through Gullah
• kwashiorkor - from Ga language, Coastal Ghana meaning "swollen stomach"
• mambo - possibly West African through Haitian Creole
• marimbula
• merengue (dance) possibly from Fulani mererek i meaning to shake or quiver
• mumbo jumbo- from mandigo name Maamajombo, a masked dancer
• mojo - from Fula moco'o "medicine man" through Louisiana Creole French or Gullah
• obeah - from West African (Efik ubio, Twi ebayifo)
• okay - disputed origins, likely influenced by Wolof waw-kay
• okra - from Igbo ókùrù
• samba from an African language through Brazilian Portuguese [3][4], carnaval website
• sambo - Fula sambo meaning "uncle"
• tango - probably from Ibibio tamgu
• tote - West African via Gullah
• voodoo - from West African languages (Ewe and Fon vodu "spirit")
• yam - West African (Fula nyami, Twi anyinam)

Words of Bantu origin

• banjo - probably Bantu mbanza
• basenji- breed of dog from the Congo
• bwana - from Swahili, meaning big boss, important person
• chimpanzee - from a Bantu language, possibly Tshiluba probably Kivili-dialect chimpenze, from nchima"blue monkey" and mzee "respectable gentleman "
• dengue - possibly from Swahili dinga
• funk - from kikongo lu-fuki "bad body odor"
• gnu - from Bushman !nu through Khoikhoi i-ngu and Dutch gnoe
• goober - possibly from Bantu (Kikongo and Kimbundu nguba)
• gumbo - from Bantu (Kimbundu ngombo meaning "okra")
• impala - from Zulu im-pala
• indaba - from Xhosa or Zulu languages - 'stories' or 'news' typically conflated with 'meeting' (often used in South African English)
• jumbo - from Swahili (jambo or jumbe or from Kongo nzamba "elephant")
• kalimba
• Kwanzaa - from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning "first fruits".
• lapa - from Sotho languages - enclosure or barbecue area (often used in South African English)
• macaque - from Bantu makaku through Portuguese and French
• mamba - from Zulu or Swahili mamba
• marimba - from Bantu (Kimbundu and Swahili marimba, malimba)
• okapi - from a language in the Congo
• safari - from Swahili travel, ultimately from Arabic
• sangoma - from Zulu - traditional healer (often used in South African English)
• Tilapia - Possibly a latinization "thiape", the Tswana word for fish.
• tsetse - from a Bantu language (Tswana tsetse, Luhya tsiisi)
• ubuntu - African ideology, from the saying "uMntu ungumntu ngaBantu" - "a human is a human through humans" - Bantu languages
• vuvuzela - musical instrument, name of Zulu or Nguni origin
• zebra - possibly from a language in the Congo
• zombie - Central African (Kikongo zumbi, Kimbundu nzambi)

References

• Online Etymology Dictionary
• Common words of african origin-William Megenney, University of California, Riverside
• The Impact of African Languages on American English
• African American Vernacular English Vocabulary
• English words have African roots