Body Parts And Clothes In Afrikaans: Learn Common Vocabulary And Boost Your Skills
If you’re new to Afrikaans, it’s important to learn common, popular vocabulary that you’re likely to use every day. For that reason, most beginners start with the basics, as these are usually the easiest words to remember.
This is especially true of Afrikaans, which, thanks to its similarities to English, has plenty of words English speakers will immediately recognize, thus making the learning/memorization process a whole lot easier.
Two of the things you should learn early on in any language are the body parts (liggaamsdele) and the clothes (klere) that go on them. After all, you need to be able to communicate what hurts and identify which articles of clothing you’re wearing!
We’ve split everything up into sections so you can learn the vocabulary little by little.
Head in Afrikaans
This section deals with the head and all the body parts associated with it.
| English | Afrikaans |
|---|---|
| Head | Kop |
| Face | Gesig |
| Hair | Hare |
| Ear | Oor |
| Nose | Neus |
| Eyes | Oë |
| Forehead | Voorkop |
| Mouth | Mond |
| Chin | Ken |
| Jaw | Kaak |
| Teeth | Tande |
| Lips | Lippe |
| Eyebrow | Wenkbrou |
| Eyelashes | Wimpers |
| Tongue | Tong |
| Cheek | Wang |
Upper body in Afrikaans
In this section, you’ll learn the words for the body parts that are located on the upper half of the human body.
| English | Afrikaans |
|---|---|
| Neck | Nek |
| Chest | Bors |
| Arm | Arm |
| Back | Rug |
| Hand | Hand |
| Fingers | Vingers |
| Shoulder | Skouer |
| Stomach | Maag |
| Throat | Keel |
| Fingernail | Vingernael |
| Elbow | Elmboog |
| Wrist | Pols |
Lower body in Afrikaans
Now we come to the lower body. In this section, you’ll learn the words for the body parts that are located on the lower half of the body.
| English | Afrikaans |
|---|---|
| Leg | Been |
| Knee | Knie |
| Ankle | Enkel |
| Foot | Voet |
| Toes | Tone |
| Thigh | Bobeen / Dy |
| Heel | Hak |
Inner body and organs in Afrikaans
A list of body parts wouldn’t be complete without mentioning the organs, would it? In this section, we’ll introduce you to the words for some of the more important organs in Afrikaans.
| English | Afrikaans |
|---|---|
| Skin | Vel |
| Kidney | Nier |
| Liver | Lewer |
| Heart | Hart |
| Brain | Brein |
| Lung | Long |
| Blood | Bloed |
| Bones | Bene |
| Muscle | Spier |
Clothes in Afrikaans
Finally, we come to the topic of clothes. In this section, you’ll learn the words for some articles of clothing in Afrikaans.
| English | Afrikaans |
|---|---|
| Hat | Hoed |
| Gloves | Handskoene |
| Shirt | Hemp |
| Dress | Rok |
| Skirt | Romp |
| Sweater/Jumper | Trui |
| Trousers/Pants | Broeke |
| Underwear | Onderklere |
| Shorts | Kortbroeke |
| Shoes | Skoene |
| Boots | Stewels |
| Socks | Sokkies |
| Scarf | Serp |
| Earrings | Oorbelle |
| Coat | Jas |
| Jacket | Baadjie |
| Ring | Ring |
| Necklace | Halssnoer |
Learning the words for the various body parts and clothing items in Afrikaans is a great starting point for any beginner. By familiarizing yourself with the vocabulary in this article, you’ll be one step closer to being able to communicate effectively in Afrikaans.
Wanna test your knowledge? Take our 21-question Afrikaans body parts quiz and see how much you’ve learned.
