Vocabulary in Born a Crime

The South African government system of strict racial segregation enforced by law from 1948 to the early 1990s, which classified people by race and controlled where they could live, work, and travel.

In South African legal and social usage, a specific official racial classification for people of mixed racial ancestry — not a general or interchangeable term for any non-white person.

An underdeveloped urban residential area on the outskirts of a South African city, created under apartheid to house non-white populations, typically with poor infrastructure and high poverty.

A South African apartheid-era law that made sexual relations or marriage between people of different racial classifications a criminal offence.

One of the territories set aside by the apartheid government as nominally self-governing reserves for Black South Africans of specific ethnic groups, intended to strip them of South African citizenship.

An unlicensed, informal drinking establishment, common in South African townships, where alcohol is sold and consumed, often out of someone's home.

A traditional southern African practice in which the groom's family pays the bride's family a negotiated bride price, typically in cattle or money, as part of the marriage process.

A Bantu language spoken by the Xhosa people of South Africa, one of the country's eleven official languages, notable for its click consonants.

A Bantu language spoken by the Zulu people, one of South Africa's largest ethnic groups and official languages, used throughout the book as a marker of ethnic and cultural identity.

A language derived from Dutch, spoken by Afrikaner and Coloured communities in South Africa, and used as one of the official languages of the apartheid government.

Used here figuratively to describe a person who can shift between different racial, cultural, or linguistic groups without being firmly claimed by or belonging to any one of them.

An informal or semi-legal scheme for making money, often involving street-level trading, reselling, or entrepreneurial improvisation outside formal employment.

A small informal shop or kiosk, often run from a home or a corner of a building, selling snacks, sweets, and basic goods — common in South African townships and schools.

A South African barbecue, typically involving grilling meat over an open wood or charcoal fire; a deeply embedded social and cultural tradition across racial groups in South Africa.

A traditional southern African healer or diviner who uses ancestral spirits, herbal medicine, and ritual to diagnose illness and misfortune — distinct from a Western medical doctor.

A tenth of one's income given as a contribution to a church, presented here as a religious obligation that the family takes seriously even when money is scarce.

Relating to a branch of Protestant Christianity that emphasises direct personal experience of God, speaking in tongues, faith healing, and enthusiastic, expressive worship services.

Apartheid-era regulations requiring Black South Africans to carry an internal passport called a passbook at all times, controlling their movement between designated areas.

The basic unit of South African currency, used throughout the book when discussing money, prices, and economic hardship.

A small informal convenience store run from a private home in a South African township, selling everyday household goods and food at the neighbourhood level.

Here used specifically for someone who plays and mixes recorded music at parties and events for money — the role Trevor pursues as a teenage entrepreneurial venture.

An extremely offensive racial slur in South Africa used to dehumanise Black people; the book discusses it to show the violence of apartheid-era language and racism.

Literally 'farmer' in Afrikaans; used historically and colloquially to refer to Afrikaner white South Africans, and in some contexts to white authority figures or police.

Describing a person born to parents of different racial classifications; under apartheid this was a legally and socially fraught identity that determined one's rights and daily life.

A privately owned minivan that operates as informal public transport in South Africa, following set routes but without fixed schedules, and central to how township residents travel.