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apartheid.

The policy of racial segregation in South Africa from 1948 to 1994.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/əˈpɑːtheɪt//əˈpɑːthaɪt//əˈpɑɹtheɪt//əˈpɑɹthaɪt/

  1. The policy of racial segregation in South Africa from 1948 to 1994.

    South-Africa · countable · historical · uncountable

  2. Any similar policy of racial segregation or separation and discrimination, particularly when in favor of a minority rule.

    broadly · countable · uncountable
    The 1973 Apartheid Convention conferred universal jurisdiction to the state signatories to prosecute those who commit apartheid.

  3. A policy or situation of segregation based on some specified attribute.

    broadly · countable · uncountable
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Middle French a partbor. Dutch apart Proto-Indo-European *keyt-der. Proto-Germanic *haiduzder. Proto-West Germanic *-haidu Old Dutch -heit Middle Dutch -heit Dutch -heid Dutch apartheid Afrikaans apartheidbor. English apartheid Borrowed from Afrikaans apartheid (literally “separateness, apartness”) (1929 in a South African socio-political context), from Afrikaans apart (“separate”) + suffix -heid, cognate of English -hood.

verb/əˈpɑːtheɪt//əˈpɑːthaɪt//əˈpɑɹtheɪt//əˈpɑɹthaɪt/

  1. To impose a policy of segregation of groups of people, especially one based on race.

    transitive
Where this word comes from

Etymology tree Middle French a partbor. Dutch apart Proto-Indo-European *keyt-der. Proto-Germanic *haiduzder. Proto-West Germanic *-haidu Old Dutch -heit Middle Dutch -heit Dutch -heid Dutch apartheid Afrikaans apartheidbor. English apartheid Borrowed from Afrikaans apartheid (literally “separateness, apartness”) (1929 in a South African socio-political context), from Afrikaans apart (“separate”) + suffix -heid, cognate of English -hood.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.