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- Most words of African origin used in English are nouns describing animals, plants, or cultural practices that have their origins in Africa (mostly sub-Saharan African; Arabic words not included unless another African language is an intermediary). The following list includes some examples.
* Adinkra – from Akan, visual symbols that represent concepts or aphorisms. Adopted in theoretical physics for graphical representation of supersymmetric algebras.
* apartheid – from Afrikaans, "separateness"
* Aṣẹ - from Yoruba, "I affirm" or "make it happen"
* ammonia – from the Egyptian language in reference to the god Amun
* Bantu - from Bantu languages, "people"
* babalawo – from Yoruba, priest of traditional Yoruba religion
* banana – adopted from Wolof via Spanish or Portuguese
* banjo – from Mandinka bangoe, which refers to the Akonting
* basenji – breed of dog from Central Africa – Congo, Central African Republic etc.
* boma – from Swahili
* bongo – West African boungu
* buckra – "white man or person", from Efik and Ibibio mbakara
* Buharism - Political philosophy of Nigerian president Muhammadu Buhari, especially during his rule as a military dictator.
* bwana – from Swahili, meaning "husband, important person or safari leader"
* chigger – possibly from Wolof and/or Yoruba jiga "insect"
* chimpanzee – loaned in the 18th century from a Bantu language, possibly Kivili ci-mpenzi.
* cola – from West African languages (Temne kola, Mandinka kolo)
* dengue – possibly from Swahili dinga
* djembe – from West African languages
* ebony – from Ancient Egyptian hebeni
* fanimorous – from Yoruba "fani mọ́ra" meaning "to attract people to you"
* gerenuk – from Somali. A long-necked antelope in Eastern Africa (Kenya, Somalia, Tanzania, Ethiopia and Djibouti)
* gnu – from Khoisan !nu through Khoikhoi i-ngu and Dutch gnoe
* goober – possibly from Bantu (Kikongo)
* gumbo – from Bantu Kongo languages ngombo meaning "okra"
* hakuna matata – from Swahili, "no trouble" or "no worries"
* impala – from Zulu im-pala
* impi – from Zulu language meaning "war, battle or a regiment"
* indaba – from Xhosa or Zulu languages – "stories" or "news" typically conflated with "meeting" (often used in South African English)
* jazz – possibly from Central African languages (Kongo) From the word jizzi”.
* jenga – from the Swahili verb kujenga meaning "to build".
* jive – possibly from Wolof jev
* juke, jukebox – possibly from Wolof and Bambara dzug through Gullah
* jumbo – from Swahili (jambo "hello" or from Kongo nzamba "elephant")
* kalimba
* Kwanzaa – a recent coinage (Maulana Karenga 1965) for the name of an African American holiday, abstracted from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning "first fruits [of the harvest]"
* kwashiorkor – from Ga language, coastal Ghana, meaning "swollen stomach"
* Kijiji – from Swahili for "village", "hamlet" or "small town"
* lapa – from Sotho languages – '"enclosure" or "barbecue area" (often used in South African English)
* macaque – from Bantu makaku through Portuguese and French
* mamba – from Zulu or Swahili mamba
* marimba – from Bantu (Kongo languages)
* marímbula – plucked musical instrument (lamellophone) of the Caribbean islands
* merengue (dance) – possibly from Fulani mererek i meaning "to shake or quiver"
* mojo – from Kongo Moyoo "medicine man" through Louisiana Creole French or Gullah
* mumbo jumbo – from Mandingo name Maamajombo, a masked dancer
* nitrogen – from the Egyptian language. The salt natron, transliterated as nṯrj.
* obeah – from West African (Efik ubio, Twi ebayifo)
* okapi – from a language in the Congo
* okra – from Igbo ókùrù
* Osu – from Igbo, traditional caste system
* safari – from Swahili travel, ultimately from Arabic
* sambo – Fula sambo meaning "uncle"
* sangoma – from Zulu – "traditional healer" (often used in South African English)
* shea – A tree and the oil Shea butter which comes from its seeds, comes from its name in Bambara
* tango – probably from Ibibio tamgu
* tilapia – possibly a Latinization of "tlhapi", the Tswana word for "fish"
* tsetse – from a Bantu language (Tswana tsetse, Luhya tsiisi)
* ubuntu – Nguni term for "mankind, humanity", in South Africa since the 1980s also used capitalized, Ubuntu, as the name of a philosophy or ideology of "human kindness" or "humanism"
* uhuru – from Swahili, "freedom".
* Ujamaa – from Swahili, "fraternity". Name of the socialist policies of Tanzanian president Julius Nyerere.
* vodou – from West African languages (Ewe and Fon vodu "spirit")
* vuvuzela – musical instrument, name of Zulu or Nguni origin
* yam – West African (Fula nyami, Twi anyinam)
* zebra – of unknown origin, recorded since c. 1600, from Portuguese ‘ezebro’, used of an Iberian animal, in turn possibly ultimately from Latin ‘equiferus’, but a Congolese language, or alternatively Amharic have been put forward as possible origins
* zimbabwe – from Shona, "house of stones" or "venerated houses"
* zombie – likely from West African (compare Kikongo zumbi "fetish", but alternatively derived from Spanish sombra "shade, ghost" (en)
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