kakebeen, noun

/ˈkɑːkəbɪən/
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, literally ‘jawbone’.
historical
Used attributively in Special Combinations, as kakebeen wagon, kakebeenwa/-vɑː/, plural kakebeenwaens/-vɑː(ə)ns/ [Afrikaans, wa wagon], a pioneer wagon with high, curving sides resembling in profile the jawbone of a horse or ox.
1946 Forum 2 Nov. 34These oxen were to be used to haul the kakebeen wagon across the river.
a1951 H.C. Bosman Willemsdorp (1977) 7They must go still further northward, dragging with long teams of oxen their cumbrous kakebeen-wagons through endless grass plains and over rugged mountains.
1955 L.G. Green Karoo 116Ladismith..provided the Voortrekker wagon ‘Johanna van der Merwe,’ the authentic kakebeenwa which is now preserved in the Pretoria [sc. Voortrekker] monument.
1974 A.A. Telford in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. X. 568Many generations of Trek Boers modified and adapted the wagon...The typical kakebeenwa of the Great Trek was..no more than 4,5 metres long and one metre wide, and tented throughout its length.
1974 A.A. Telford in Std Encycl. of Sn Afr. X. 569The body consisted of the sides, resembing somewhat in shape the lower jawbone of a horse or ox..and the white canvas tent.
1983 S. Afr. Panorama Apr. 17The kakebeen wagon..was developed for the Great Trek of 1836–1838 to the interior. It was a lighter wagon suited to the uncharted territory which the pioneers had to traverse.
1989 Reader’s Digest Illust. Hist. of S. Afr. 114The trekkers..set out in wagons which they called kakebeenwaens (literally, jawbone wagons, because the shape and size of a typical trek wagon resembled the jawbone of an animal).
1989 Weekend Post 30 Dec. (Leisure) 4In its time, the Cape ox-wagon — the kakebeenwa, as it became — was a revolution in itself. Its early development, though slow, was essential to the conquest of the interior.
Used attributively in Special Combinations, as kakebeen wagon, kakebeenwa/-vɑː/, plural kakebeenwaens/-vɑː(ə)ns/ [Afrikaans, wa wagon],a pioneer wagon with high, curving sides resembling in profile the jawbone of a horse or ox.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

19461989

Browse Related Words

By Category

Transport

By Origin

Afrikaans

By Usage

historical
kak, verb intransitivev.kakelaar, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English