kaffirs

Noun

kaffir (countable and uncountable, plural kaffirs)

1. (countable, offensive) 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
2. (countable, offensive) 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
3. (Namibia, Rhodesia, South Africa, countable, derogatory, ethnic) A black person.
   • I rang the bell, and a smiling Kafir boy answered it.1924, Agatha Christie, The Man in the Brown Suit
4. (historical, offensive, uncountable) 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
5. (historical, slang) South African mining shares
   • Kaffirs bouyant most of last week1907, Truth, volume 62, page 688