African

Alternative forms

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

Etymology

Attested as a noun in Old English as Africanas (“Africans”) (only plural). From Latin Africānae. In Middle English as Aufrican, early Modern English Aphricane, Africans. The adjective appears in the 16th century, as Affricane, Africane, African.

Latin Africus is from Afri (singular Afer), the name of an ancient people of North Africa (near Carthage, in modern Tunisia), with the suffix -icus. Africānus is formed by addition of the -ānus suffix.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈæf.ɹɪ.kən/

Adjective

African (comparative more African, superlative most African)

1. Of or pertaining to Africa.
2. Synonym of negroid

   The truth is that I know the guy had African skin and a shirt of some sort.

Noun

African (plural Africans)

1. A native of Africa; also one ethnologically belonging to an African race.
   • 2007, African Immigrant Religions in America →ISBN:

     Africans constitute significantly growing populations not only in major urban centers such as New York, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston, and Atlanta but also in small and midsize cities in states such as Ohio and Maine.

Derived terms

• Africanism

Anagrams

• Francia, acifran