kwedini, noun

/kweˈdi(ː)n(i)/
Forms:
khwedini, khwidiniShow more Also khwedini, khwidini, kwedien, kwedin, kweding, kween dine, quedien, quedine.
Plurals:
usually kwedinis; occasionally ‖amakwedini, ‖makwedini, or unchanged.
Origin:
IsiXhosaShow more IsiXhosa, vocative equivalent of inkwenkwe uncircumcised boy, but found also in the nominative and objective form ikwedini.
Especially in areas where isiXhosa is spoken: a young boy; a boy not yet of an age to be initiated into manhood; inkwenkwe. Also attributive. See also piccanin noun sense 1. Cf. umfaan sense 3.
1912 Queenstown Rep. 27 Jan. 5A young native boy was badly hurt with a blow from the pole..; and this ‘kween dine’ was walking behind the pole driving the bullocks on.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 287Kwedini,..A term applied on the Border to a native boy, but never by the Kaffirs to a circumcised lad, however young he may be.
1946 Spotlight (S.A.I.R.R.) 23 Aug. 6A twelve-year-old kwedini asleep across some sacks.
1955 J.B. Shephard Land of Tikoloshe 37Many a white school-boy might envy Africans in the Khwidini stage. A Khwidini is ‘not yet old enough for a man, nor young enough for a boy’...He has few responsibilities, precious little work and even less supervision.
1955 J.B. Shephard Land of Tikoloshe 59Abakhweta..do not mix with the younger Khwedinis.
1966 I. Vaughan These Were my Yesterdays 78Orchard fences broken by ‘quediens’ from locations stealing all your fruits.
1970 G. Westwood Bright Wilderness 8The labour force consisted of a few quedines, young boys not yet initiated into manhood.
1970 Daily News 18 Dec. 13One White trader complained that kwedings (boys) had destroyed more than 1000 white telephone cups.
1976 Weekend World 9 Sept.A 16-year-old kwedini was this week sentenced to six cuts for culpable homicide.
1980 E. Joubert Long Journey of Poppie Nongena 139I’ll always be the small boy, although I’m your age. Boys that haven’t been to the bush show you respect, but they call me the old man who is still kwedini.
1981 M. Mzamane in Best of S. Afr. Short Stories (1991) 397‘Where can I refill this bottle, makwedini?’ The boys laughed derisively at being called pickaninnies.
1987 M. Poland Train to Doringbult 205I always said that those kwedinis who’re allowed in the house when they’re small get too big for their boots when they grow up.
1989 M. Ball in Weekend Post 14 Jan. (Funfare) 3The little farm boys, the amakwedini, were soon there to meet them, grinning from ear to ear.
1992 C.M. Knox tr. of E. Van Heerden’s Mad Dog 69With his strange bundle he set off to the farmyard trailed by the excited mob of kwedini.
1993 Weekend Post 26 June 13 (letter)A church elder said to me: ‘Kwedini, you will never satisfy all the people.’
a young boy; a boy not yet of an age to be initiated into manhood; inkwenkwe. Also attributive.
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19121993
kwaai, adjectiveadj.kweek, nounn.
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