Word.ws English Dictionary

South West Africa

South West Africa proper noun: a former German colony (before World War I) and later a South African colony (from 1915 to 1990, illegally occupied after 1966 per United Nations stipulations) in Southern Africa; modern Namibia.

Proper noun

South West Africa

  1. (historical) A former German colony (before World War I) and later a South African colony (from 1915 to 1990, illegally occupied after 1966 per United Nations stipulations) in Southern Africa; modern Namibia.

Origin of South West Africa

Calque of German Südwestafrika, the name of the German colony before it was lost during World War I and put under South African administration.

Questions about South West Africa

What does South West Africa mean?
South West Africa means a former German colony (before World War I) and later a South African colony (from 1915 to 1990, illegally occupied after 1966 per United Nations stipulations) in Southern Africa; modern Namibia.
What part of speech is South West Africa?
South West Africa is a proper noun.

Words near South West Africa in the dictionary

  1. South Walsham
  2. South Weald
  3. South Wellfleet
  4. South Wentworthville
  5. South West
  6. South West Africa
  7. South West Delhi
  8. South West Garo Hills
  9. South West Khasi Hills
  10. South West Rocks
  11. South West Slopes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: South West Africa (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.

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Cite this entry: “South West Africa.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/south_west_africa. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.