Africa

Alternative forms

• Afrika (sometimes used in AAVE)
• Afric (poetic, archaic)

Etymology

From Latin Āfrica, from Āfer (“inhabitant of the country of Carthage”), probably from a Punic term for the country of Carthage of unknown origin.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ˈæ.fɹɪ.kə/

• Audio

  (file)

Proper noun

Africa

1. The continent that is south of Europe, east of the Atlantic Ocean, west of the Indian Ocean and north of Antarctica.

   the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa

2. (historical) A province of the Roman Empire containing what is now modern Tunisia and portions of Libya.
3. A surname​.

See also

• (continents) continent; Africa, Antarctica, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, South America
• Appendix:Place names in Africa

Anagrams

• AFAICR, Faraci

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈafrika/

Proper noun

Africa f

1. Africa.

See also

• (continents) continente; Africa, America meridionale, America settentrionale, Antartide, Asia, Europa, Oceania

Etymology

Feminine of āfricus, as a noun elliptic of terra Āfrica (literally “the African land”). The adjective āfricus comes from the name of the Āfrī (singular Āfer), a tribal people of the area near Carthage, by addition of the -icus suffix.

The Latin term formed alongside Greek ἡ Ἀφρική (hē Aphrikḗ), both terms being attested since the first century.

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈaː.fri.ka/, [ˈaː.frɪ.ka]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈa.fri.ka/, [ˈaː.fri.ka]

• Audio (Classical)

  (file)

Proper noun

Āfrica f (genitive Āfricae); first declension

1. Northwestern Africa, the territory of Carthage, the African coast west of the Nile

   Nilus Africam ab Aethiopiā dispescens (Pliny 5, 9, 10, § 53)

2. Name of a Roman province from 146 BC to AD 293 (later split into Africa Zeugitana and Africa Byzacena under Diocletian)
3. Africa as a continent, understood as the quarter of the globe south of the Mediterranean

   Si probare possemus Ligarium in Āfricā omnino non fuisse.

   If we could prove that Ligarius was not at all in Africa.

References

• Africa in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• Africa in Charlton T. Lewis (1891) An Elementary Latin Dictionary, New York: Harper & Brothers
• Africa in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire Illustré Latin-Français, Hachette

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin Africa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈa.fri.ka]

Proper noun

Africa f

1. Africa (a continent)