What does bok mean?
Bok is a noun borrowed into South African English from Afrikaans, where it denotes a male antelope or buck and, in older usage, a goat. It functions much like the English word 'buck' but retains a distinctly southern African flavour, appearing constantly in place names, wildlife writing, and everyday conversation across the region. Its most famous appearances are inside compounds: the springbok, South Africa's national animal and the emblem of its rugby team, and the rhebok, a small antelope of rocky hillsides. A diminutive form, bokkie, softens the word and doubles as an affectionate term for a person, much like 'sweetheart'. For readers outside southern Africa, bok offers a compact window into how Afrikaans has shaped English vocabulary in the region, lending local colour to descriptions of wildlife and rural life that generic English words cannot quite supply.
nounIn South African English, a male antelope or buck; more broadly, any male goat or similar animal, borrowed from Afrikaans.
- A male antelope or buck, especially in South African English.
- (Afrikaans) A goat.
"We spotted a bok bounding across the veld at dusk."
"A grey rhebok stood motionless on the ridge, the only bok in sight."
"On the farm he kept a few boks along with his sheep."
Treated as a regular noun in English contexts; in Afrikaans the plural would be bokke.
"Several boks grazed peacefully near the waterhole."
The springbok that stars on South Africa's rugby jersey and its national emblem is literally just 'a bok' with a spring in it.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of bok
Bok enters English through Afrikaans, where bok means both 'goat' and, by extension, a male antelope. Afrikaans took the word from Dutch, whose cognate bok likewise covers goats and related animals, and it ultimately traces back to the same Germanic root seen in English 'buck'. This shared Germanic ancestry makes bok and buck distant cousins rather than unrelated borrowings. In South African English the word settled firmly into wildlife vocabulary, giving rise to well-known compounds such as springbok and rhebok.
Related word forms
How bok is actually used
Bok belongs chiefly to South African English, where it is informal but widely understood; it appears frequently in compounds such as springbok and rhebok. Outside southern Africa it may be unfamiliar to general readers. The diminutive form bokkie ('little buck') carries affectionate connotations and can even be used of a person as a term of endearment.
Easily confused with bok
Bock is a strong German-style lager beer, whereas bok is an Afrikaans-derived term for a male antelope or goat.