English
kaffir
Kaffir comes from Arabic كَفَّار ‘infidel’, and goes back to كَفَرَ ‘to cover, to hide’.
- Arabicc. 500–presentكَفَرَkafara‘to cover, to hide’by way of Spanish cafre, Dutch kaffer
- Arabic, derivedc. 500–presentكَفَّارkaffār‘infidel’
- Englishearliest quotation 1792kaffir
attested reconstructed ? uncertain or disputed
Earlier history not traced here.
Lineage
- Arabicc. 500–presentكَفَرَkafara‘to cover, to hide’by way of Spanish cafre, Dutch kaffer
- Arabic, derivedc. 500–presentكَفَّارkaffār‘infidel’
- Englishearliest quotation 1792kaffir
Earliest quotation: 1792, The Analytical Review, Or History of Literature: “… the Hambonaas, a nation quite different from the…”
Linked words
through Arabic كَفَرَ ‘to cover, to hide’
Today it means
noun In Islamic contexts, a non-Muslim.
Language periods are conventional ranges, not dates for this word.
Etymograph / Arabic كَفَرَ / kaffir