kraal

English

WOTD – 16 November 2014

Etymology

From colonial Dutch kraal, from Portuguese curral.

Pronunciation

  • (UK) IPA(key): /kɹɑːl/
  • Rhymes: -ɑːl

Noun

kraal (plural kraals)

  1. In Central and Southern Africa, a small rural community.
    • 1861, Charles John Andersson, Lake Ngami, chapter VII, page 89
      Onanis is the permanent residence of a kraal of very poor Hill-Damaras, who subsist chiefly upon the few wild roots which their sterile neighborhood produces.
    • 1979, André Brink, A Dry White Season, Vintage 1998, p. 88:
      ‘The paraffin box covered with newsprint, and the primus, and the bucket standing on the floor, and a photo of our kraal’s chief on the wall.’
  2. In Central and Southern Africa, a rural village of huts surrounded by a stockade.
    • 1994, Nelson Mandela, Long Walk to Freedom, Abacus 2010, p. 6:
      A kraal was a homestead and usually included a simple fenced-in enclosure for animals, fields for growing crops, and one or more thatched huts.
  3. An enclosure for livestock.
    • 2000, Jonathan Amos, "'Funny creature' toast of Botswana", BBC News Online, 3 July 2000:
      The animal, which is now six years old, was born naturally from the mating of a female goat with a male sheep sharing the same kraal.

Synonyms

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See also

Verb

kraal (third-person singular simple present kraals, present participle kraaling, simple past and past participle kraaled)

  1. To enclose livestock within a kraal or stockade.
    • 1861, Charles John Andersson, Lake Ngami, chapter XXVIII, page 343
      [] he knew that one of these beasts was in the habit of harassing the goat-kids, which, for better security, he had kraaled against the wall of the house.

Synonyms

  • (to enclose livestock): corral

Translations

Anagrams


Afrikaans

Etymology

From Portuguese curral, probably via Dutch kraal.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /krɑːl/

Noun

kraal (plural kralen)

  1. kraal, corral: enclosure for livestock

Dutch

Etymology

From Portuguese curral.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /kraːl/
  • (file)
  • Hyphenation: kraal
  • Rhymes: -aːl
  • Rhymes: -aːl

Noun

kraal f (plural kralen, diminutive kraaltje n)

  1. bead (of a necklace or abacus)
  2. kraal, corral: enclosure for livestock

Synonyms

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Descendants

Anagrams

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