Boer
Definition: Descendants of the Dutch colonists in South Africa
The more modern term in use today is “Afrikaners,” though their are subtle differences.
Why I Looked It Up
It came up often in a book about the world in 1913. I was pretty sure I knew what it meant, but not totally, so I looked it up.
Postscript
Sometime after this, I read The Covenant, which is a fictionalized history of South Africa. It covered the Boer extensively.
Postscript
Added on August 12, 2023
In August 2023, a song called “Kill the Boer” was chanted at a political rally in South Africa. The chant was led by Julius Malema, a Black political leader with strong Left-wing views.
This prompted some controversy, most publicly with Elon Musk – himself a White South African – who tweeted the song was…
openly pushing for genocide of white people in South Africa
In this usage, “Boer” can be interpreted to mean White people in general, however many have argued it is simply a rallying cry of the disenchanted. The song originated in the 1990s, under apartheid. The ANC distanced themselves from the song due to the implicit call to racial violence.