african
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
From Africa, or to do with its countries and people.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
afruhkuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈæfɹəkən
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Of or relating to the nations of Africa or their peoples
“They explored the rich African culture through dance and music.”
Black; (dated, offensive) synonym of negroid.
Of or pertaining to Africa.
noun
A native or inhabitant of Africa
A native of Africa; also one ethnologically belonging to an African race.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A1 · Beginner (estimated)
- Frequency
- Very Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Of or relating to the nations of Africa or their peoples
Used this way, african is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“They explored the rich African culture through dance and music.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A nonstandard form of American English characteristically spoken by African Americans in the United States.
Music created by African-American musicians.
A nonstandard form of American English characteristically spoken by African Americans in the United States.
Bowstring hemp of South Africa.
A chameleon found in Africa.
A tongueless frog native to Africa.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A strain of bees that originated in Brazil in the 1950s as a cross between an aggressive African bee and a honeybee.
A strain of bees that originated in Brazil in the 1950s as a cross between an aggressive African bee and a honeybee.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.