kaffir
/ˈkæfə/US/ˈkæfɚ/
kaffir noun: in Islamic contexts, a non-Muslim. Also the ellipsis of kaffir corn.
Noun (1)
kaffir (countable and uncountable, plural kaffirs)
- In Islamic contexts, a non-Muslim.
- 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
- A member of the Nguni people of southern Africa, especially a Xhosa.
- … 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
- A black person.
- I rang the bell, and a smiling Kafir boy answered it.1924, Agatha Christie, The Man in the Brown Suit
- 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
- A language spoken by the Nguni peoples of southern Africa, especially Xhosa.
- 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
- South African mining shares
- Kaffirs bouyant most of last week1907, Truth, volume 62, page 688
Noun (2) capitalized: Kaffir
Kaffir (plural Kaffirs)
- Alternative letter-case form of kaffir.
Also used as
kaffir is also the ellipsis of kaffir corn.
kaffir meaning in Hindi and Gujarati
kaffir in Hindi
- black person
- काफ़िर kāfir, काफिर kāphir
kaffir in Gujarati
- black person
- કાફર kāphar
Examples of kaffir in a sentence
- 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.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):
Forms of kaffir
| plural | kaffirs |
|---|---|
| alternative form | Caffer |
| alternative form | caffre |
| alternative form | kaffer |
| alternative form | Kaffir |
| alternative form | Kaffre |
| alternative form | kafir |
| alternative form | kaphar |
| alternative form | kaphir |
| alternative form | kafari |
| plural | Kaffirs |
| alternative form (obsolete) | coffery |
| alternative form (obsolete) | coffree |
| alternative form (obsolete) | coffry |
Origin of kaffir
Ultimately from Arabic كَفَّار (kaffār, “infidel”) or كَافِر (kāfir, “unbeliever”), both from كَفَرَ (kafara, “to cover, to hide”); in some (especially early) uses, via Spanish cafre, Dutch kaffer or other European languages. Doublet of kafir.
Words formed from kaffir
Phrases with kaffir
Words that rhyme with kaffir
Questions about kaffir
- What does kaffir mean?
- Kaffir means in Islamic contexts, a non-Muslim.
- What is kaffir in Hindi?
- Kaffir in Hindi is काफ़िर (kāfir), काफिर (kāphir). See Kaffir meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use kaffir in a sentence?
- 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.'
- What part of speech is kaffir?
- Kaffir is a noun.
- How do you pronounce kaffir?
- Kaffir is pronounced /ˈkæfə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of kaffir?
- The plural of kaffir is kaffirs.
Words near kaffir in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kaffir (page history and authors); Kaffir (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:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-kaffir.wav.
Cite this entry: “kaffir.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kaffir. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.