In July each year, Australia celebrates Blak History Month, raising awareness of the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. And to mark the occasion this year, we thought we’d look at some English words with Australian Aboriginal origins. There are more than you might think!
Most of the words we’ve adopted from Australian Aboriginal languages are related to plants, animals, and the environment.
Internationally, some of the best known include:
There are plenty more, though! And if you’ve been to Australia, you might also know words such as “quokka,” “galah,” “waratah,” “coolabah,” and many other terms for things in the environment around you.
So, what else have Australian Aboriginal languages given English? Internationally, there aren’t too many that have made an impact.
The big one is “boomerang,” which was adapted from an extinct Aboriginal language of the New South Wales area and may be one of the first words people outside the country associate with Australia.
Otherwise, some outside of Australia will know the greeting “Cooee!,” which originally meant “come here” in the Dharug language. And you may have heard the words “yabber” (to speak) and “yakka” (to work hard). But many Aboriginal words in Australian English are slang, place names, or refer to Aboriginal culture, so they’re not widely known elsewhere.
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One word that is widespread is the proper name “Kylie.” Now a popular girl’s name, it may have started as kiley, a Noongar word for a boomerang!
Blak History Month was started in 2008 to celebrate and remember the history of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. And it is “Blak” – rather than “Black” – because this term has a special meaning:
Blak: a term used by some Aboriginal people to reclaim historical, representational, symbolical, stereotypical and romanticised notions of Black or Blackness.
So while English has borrowed from Aboriginal languages, here, Aboriginal and Strait Islander people are borrowing from English, using it in new ways to express something about their own identities.
Are there any other English words with origins in Aboriginal languages you’d like to see on our lists? If so, let us know in the comments below.
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