baadjie, noun

/ˈbaɪki/
Forms:
baatje, baatjieShow more Also baatje, baatjie, badjie, batje.
Origin:
Afrikaans, MalayShow more Afrikaans, adaptation of Malay baju jacket.
1. obsolete. A jacket.
1861 Cape Monthly Mag. in Du Plessis & Lückhoff Malay Quarter (1953) 49They wear a shirt, with sleeves left wide and open at the wrists..and baatjies, or hip-jackets, in the pockets of which their hands are inserted in a very Frankish fashion.
1896 R. Wallace Farming Indust. of Cape Col. 162The inhabitants were supposed to be all Boers, dressed in fustian if they were fairly well off, in leather crackers and batjes if less well to do.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 39Baatje,..This word was introduced into South Africa either by the Malays or by the sailors of the Dutch East India Company. It has made a permanent place for itself in the vocabulary of the Dutch sailor, baatje being the name that he gives to his jacket. In South Africa it is applied to almost every description of short coat.
1936 L.G. Green Secret Afr. (1974) 130Even their language has not been entirely lost, for many an exotic Malay word is heard in the daily speech of South Africans both of Dutch and English descent. Words like pondok (a hovel) and blatjang (a relish), mebos (preserved fruit), baatje (a jacket) and sjambok (a whip) are Malay words.
[1953 Du Plessis & Lückhoff Malay Quarter 59Those who came from Java in the early part of the eighteenth century must have worn the dress described by Valentyn in 1726: a sarong swathed round the lower limbs, turban and badju (coat) over a silk or cotton garment.]
2. [So called after the jacket worn in the past by long-term male prisoners.] A long-term prison sentence; cf. blue-coat sense 2. See also bloubaadjie sense 2 a.
1974 in Eng. Usage in Sn Afr. Vol.5 No.1, 9Bandiete..graduate from short sentences 2–4 and 4–8 (years) to the pinnacle of a coat or baadjie (both widely used, recalling the former ‘blou baadjie’ worn by long termers). A coat means 9 to never.
A jacket.
A long-term prison sentence;
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18611974

Browse Related Words

By Category

Clothing Fabrics and Jewellery
Crime and Gangs

By Origin

Afrikaans
Malay

By Usage

idiomatic
obsolete or obsolescent
BAAB, nounn.Baai, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English