Definitions For Kwerekwere

Noun

{{en-noun, amakwerekwere}} (South Africa) A foreign visitor to a township.

Alternative forms

kweri-kweri kwiri-kwiri (less common)

Etymology

{{onomatopoeic, en}}. Foreigners who came to the townships could not speak the local languages. One theory on the origin of this term is that their own languages sounded like kwirikwirikwiri to the locals. A more plausible theory is that this term was a corruption of the word "korekore". The Korekore are a sub-group of the Shona people in neighboring Zimbabwe. {{rfe, en, But what language is it: Xhosa? Zulu? The ama- plural prefix looks distinctive}}