Afro-Indian

Afro-Indian noun: a person described by both African and indigenous American ancestry or culture.

Noun

Afro-Indian (plural Afro-Indians)

A person described by both African and indigenous American ancestry or culture.
- In a recent account of the last of the unconquered Seminoles, who are still living in the Everglades of Florida, I noticed reference to an Afro-Indian who apparently holds a position among these people corresponding to that of a sheriff, since he is described as executioner of the tribe.1909, Booker T. Washington, The story of the Negro: the rise of the race from slavery, volume 1, Doubleday, Page & Co., page 133
A person described by both African and South Asian or East Indian (especially from India) ancestry or culture.
- Ngema used his song to initiate what he called a "constructive discussion" about conflicts separating Zulus and Afro-Indians.2008, Patrick Lynn Rivers, Governing Hate and Race in the United States and South Africa, SUNY Press, →ISBN, page 97

Afro-Indian (comparative more Afro-Indian, superlative most Afro-Indian)

Having both African and indigenous American ancestry or other attributes, whether of people, cultures, cuisine, language, and so on.
- Despite the decline of Indian slavery, throughout the eighteenth century South Carolina newspapers frequently advertised for runaway Indian and Afro-Indian slaves.2003, Jayme A. Sokolow, The Great Encounter: Native Peoples and European Settlers in the Americas, 1492-1800, M.E. Sharpe, →ISBN, page 177
Having both African and South Asian or East Indian (especially from India) ancestry or other attributes, whether of people, cultures, cuisine, language, and so on.
- Afro-Indian settlements were established at least since the early 16th century onwards. Through migration of ex-slaves and free Africans within India, new settlements arose, such as that in the hilly district of Uttara Kannada[...]2008, Carole Boyce Davies, Encyclopedia of the African Diaspora: Origins, Experiences, and Culture, volume 1, ABC-CLIO, →ISBN, page 563
Synonyms:

Zambo, Siddi, Indo-African, Afrindian
Pertaining to both Africa and India.
- Another evidence of early Afro-Indian trade relations is to be found in the work of the Greco-Egyptian monk Cosmos Indicopleustes who wrote, as cited by Pankhurst (1972:10), in the early sixth century that Barbaria, probably Somalia, had substantial trade with India and Ceylon.2004, Ababu Minda Yimene, An African Indian Community in Hyderabad: Siddi Identity, its Maintenance and Change, Cuvillier Verlag, →ISBN, page 64

From Afro- + Indian.

What does Afro-Indian mean?: Afro-Indian means a person described by both African and indigenous American ancestry or culture.
What part of speech is Afro-Indian?: Afro-Indian can be a noun or an adjective.
What is the plural of Afro-Indian?: The plural of Afro-Indian is Afro-Indians.

Adapted from Wiktionary: Afro-Indian (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “Afro-Indian.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/afro-indian. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.