Voortrekker

/ ˈvʊə-; ˈfʊəˌtrɛkə /

noun

1. one of the original Afrikaner settlers of the Transvaal and the Orange Free State who migrated from the Cape Colony in the 1830s
2. a member of the Afrikaner youth movement founded in 1931

Word History and Origins

Origin of Voortrekker¹

C19: from Dutch, from voor- fore- + trekken to trek

Example Sentences

Galgut’s new work, “The Promise,” studies the Swart family, descendants of Voortrekker settlers, clinging to their farm amid tumultuous social and political change — “just an ordinary bunch of white South Africans,” he writes, “holding on, holding out.”

From New York Times

Muyunda said the ministry granted the permit for Voortrekker to be shot because the government was afraid that farmers living in the Omatjete area would carry out their threat to kill elephants that were destroying their properties.

From Reuters

The elephant, popularly known as “Voortrekker”, was part of the rare Ugab desert-adapted herd.

From Reuters

The death of Voortrekker comes four years after Cecil the Lion was killed by an American tourist in Zimbabwe causing international uproar.

From Reuters

He now lives above a shop, and pays a white man on the other side of Voortrekker Street to keep his three cows in the yard at night; every day he grazes them in the bush on the edge of town.

From The New Yorker