A West Germanic language derived from Dutch, spoken primarily in South Africa and Namibia. It developed from the Dutch spoken by 17th-century settlers and incorporates influences from indigenous African languages, Malay, and Portuguese.
From Dutch 'Afrikaans' meaning 'African'. The language evolved from 17th-century Dutch as spoken by settlers in the Cape Colony, gradually developing its own grammar and vocabulary distinct from its parent language.
Afrikaans is sometimes called 'kitchen Dutch' historically, though this term is now considered derogatory. Remarkably, it's one of the youngest official languages in the world, having been recognized as distinct from Dutch only in the early 20th century, yet it has about 7 million native speakers.
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