List of South African English regionalisms
This is a list of words used in mainstream South African English but not usually found in other dialects of the English language. For internationally common English words of South African origin, see List of English words of Afrikaans origin.
A-B
; aikhona: meaning; Amasi: fermented milk, sometimes called maas.
; bakkie: a utility truck or pickup truck. Can also mean a small basin or other container.
; bergie: refers to a particular subculture of vagrants in Cape Town. Increasingly used in other cities to mean a vagrant of any description. The term hobo is also used for homeless vagrants.
; bioscope, bio: cinema; movie theatre
; biltong: dried meat, similar to jerky
; bladdy: occasionally heard South African version of bloody, from the Cape Coloured/Afrikaans blerrie, itself a corruption of the English word
; boerewors: traditional sausage from Afrikaans "farmer-sausage", usually made with a mixture of beef and pork and seasoned with spices. Droëwors is a Boerewors that has been prepared the same method as biltong.
; boy: in addition to its normal meaning, an archaic and derogatory term for a male domestic servant of colour, for example, a gardener may be called a garden boy
; braai: a barbecue, to barbecue
; buck: a rand, referring to the Springbok that is featured on the South African R1-coin.
; bundu, bundus: a wilderness region, remote from cities
; bunny chow: loaf of bread filled with curry, speciality of Durban, particularly Indian South Africans also called a kota by black South Africans, on account of it commonly being sold in a quarter loaf of bread.
; bokkie: originally referring to a baby antelope. It refers to a nubile white girl, and it can also be applied as a pet-name between lovers.
C-E
; cafe: when pronounced refers to a convenience store not a coffee shop called a tea room by Durbanites.; china: a friend, abbreviated rhyming slang, "china plate", for "mate" also used in Cockney rhyming slang, e.g. "Howzit my China?"
; circle: Used to refer to the shape but also used to refer to a roundabout, given its circular shape
; Coloured: refers to typically brown skinned South Africans of mixed European and Khoisan or black and/or Malay ancestry, a definition formally codified under apartheid.
; combi/kombi/coombi: a mini-van, people-carrier, especially referring to the Volkswagen Type 2 and its descendants. Not usually used in the context of minibus taxis, which are referred to as taxis.
; cool drink, cold drink: soft drink, fizzy drink. Groovy was used to refer to canned soft drinks
; creepy crawly Kreepy Krauly: automated pool cleaner
; dagga: marijuana
; donga: a ditch of the type found in South African topography
; draadkar/draad-kar: a toy car which is constructed out of throw-away steel wires.
; entjie: a cigarette.
; erf
F-J
; girl: in addition to its normal meaning, archaic and derogatory term for a female domestic servant of colour. Superseded by "maid", and more recently "domestic worker" or "domestic".; gogga: a creepy crawly or an insect
; gogo: Zulu word meaning grandmother/grandma, also used as a general term of respect for women of appropriate age. Became part of the iconic slogan Yebo Gogo from the South African cellular service-provider Vodacom
;homeland: under apartheid, typically referred to a self-governing "state" for black South Africans
; howzit: hello, how are you, good morning
; imbizo: A meeting or conference, similar to a legotla or indaba, formerly called a bosberaad : often a retreat for senior government and political officials to discuss policy.
; is it?: Is that so? An all purpose exclamative, can be used in any context where "really?", "uh-huh", etc. would be appropriate, e.g. "I'm feeling pretty tired." "Is it?".
; indaba: a conference
; jam: can also be referred to as having a good time, partying, drinking etc. e.g. "Let's jam soon"
; ja: yes. Pronounced "ya".
; janee, ja-nee, ja/nee, ja nee: meaning yes/agreed, in response to a question: "Ja no, that's fine."
; jol: another term more commonly used for partying and drinking. e.g. "It was a jol" or "I am jolling with you soon." Can also mean having a lighthearted fling or affair.
; just now: idiomatically used to mean soon, later, in a short while, or a short time ago, but unlike the UK not immediately.
K-L
; kaffir: a black-skinned person used as a racial slur; kif: indicating appreciation, like "cool"
; kip: a nap
; koki, koki pen: a fibre-tip pen.
; koppie: a small hill,
; koeksister: a Dutch-derived sweet pastry dessert dipped in a syrup. Pastry is traditionally shaped in the form of a French braid. The name
; lapa: permanent, semi-open thatched structure used for entertaining
; lekker
; lappie: a small dishcloth used for cleaning, as opposed to a dishcloth or teatowel
; laaitie: one's own child or younger brother, specifically refers to a young boy, or to refer to a young person as a lightweight or inexperienced in something particular
; location, kasi: an apartheid-era urban area populated by Blacks, Cape Coloureds, or Indians. It was replaced by "township" in common usage amongst Whites but is still widely used by Blacks in the form of kasi
M-N
; matric: school-leaving certificate or the final year of high school or a student in the final year, short for matriculation; mielie, mealie: an ear of maize
; mieliemeel, mealie meal: used for both cornmeal and the traditional porridge made from it similar to polenta, the latter also commonly known by the Afrikaans word pap, and is a traditional staple food of black South Africans. See pap
; Melktert/Milktart: a Dutch custard-tart with a strong milk flavor, usually sprinkled with cinnamon on top.
; monkey's wedding: a sunshower.
; Moola: currency used by the now-defunct South African mobile-data service Mxit; money in general
;muti: any sort of medicine but especially something unfamiliar
; Mzansi: another name for South Africa, from the Xhosa word for "South".
; naartjie: a mandarin orange, a tangerine in Britain. Mandarin is used in Durban, rather than naartjie
; now now: derived from the Afrikaans
O-R
; outjie: a person, similar to "bloke"; ousie: Afrikaans for maid/housekeeper, usually applied only to female housekeepers of colour, but is far more derogatory than maid/mate and is often never used except to be derogatory.
; pap: porridge-like dish made from maize meal
; poppie: a ditzy woman, from the Afrikaans word pop, meaning a doll
; robot: besides the standard meaning, in South Africa this is also used for traffic lights. The etymology of the word derives from a description of early traffic lights as robot policemen, which then got truncated with time.
; rondavel: round free-standing hut-like structure, usually with a thatched roof,.
S
;samp: dried and roughly ground maize kernels, similar to American grits; sarmie: a sandwich
; samoosa: a small triangular pastry of Indian origin. South African spelling and pronunciation of samosa.
; Sangoma: a traditional African healer
; shame
; sharp, shapp, shapp-shapp, pashasha, pashash: General positive exclamation meaning "OK", "all's good", "no worries", or "goodbye". Often accompanied by a thumbs-up gesture. A similar, more recent term used in Cape Town is aweh. Also means intelligent.
; shebeen: an illegal drinking establishment, nowadays meaning any legal, informal bar, especially in townships
; shongololo, songololo: millipede
; skyfie: segment of an orange or other citrus fruit
; snackwich: a toasted sandwich made in a snackwich maker/snackwich machine
; sosatie: a kebab on a stick
; soutie: derogatory term for an English-speaking South African, from the Afrikaans soutpiel, which referred to British colonial settlers who had one foot in England, one foot in South Africa and, consequently, their manhood dangling in the Atlantic Ocean.
; spanspek: a cantaloupe
; spaza: an informal trading post/convenience store found in townships and remote areas
; standard: besides other meanings, used to refer to a school grade higher than grades 1 and 2
; State President: head of state between 1961 and 1994 - the position is now the President of South Africa
T-Z
; tackies, takkies, tekkies: sneakers, trainers; tea room: convenience store, used by Durbanites.
; tickey box, ticky-box, tiekieboks: a payphone, derived from "tickey" coin, as one had to insert a coin to make a call. Archaic, and superseded by public phone and payphone.
; township: residential area, historically reserved for black Africans, Coloureds or Indians under apartheid. Sometimes also used to describe impoverished formally designated residential areas largely populated by black Africans, established post-Apartheid. Formerly called a location. Also has a distinct legal meaning in South Africa's system of land title, with no racial connotations.
; veld: virgin bush, especially grassland or wide open rural spaces. Afrikaans for Field.
; vetkoek: Afrikaner deep fried dough bread