Kaffir (racial term)

Kaffir (/ˈkæfər/) is an exonym and ethnic slur directed at Black people in South Africa and, to a lesser extent, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

The word originates from the Arabic word kāfir ("unbeliever"), which was originally applied to non-Muslims of any ethnic background before becoming predominantly directed at pagan zanj (sub-Saharan African) who were increasingly used as slaves. During the Age of Exploration in early modern Europe, variants of the Latin term cafer (pl. cafri) were adopted in reference to non-Muslim Bantu peoples. During the Apartheid era, the slur was used, particularly in Afrikaans (Afrikaans: kaffer), to refer pejoratively to any black person, and has come to be closely associated with racism in South Africa.

The word had become a pejorative by the mid-20th century and is considered extremely offensive in post-apartheid South Africa. The use of the slur, euphemistically termed the K-word in South African English, has been found to constitute hate speech and crimen injuria in South African law.