bangbroek, noun

/ˈbaŋbruk//ˈbaŋbrʊk/
Plurals:
bangbroeke/ˈbaŋbrukə/, bangbroeks.
Origin:
Afrikaans, South African EnglishShow more Afrikaans, bang afraid + broek (or occasionally South African English broeks) trousers.
colloquial
A coward, a ‘scaredy cat’. Cf. bangie. See also bang, papbroek.
1913 C. Pettman Africanderisms 45Bangbroek, A coward, a poltroon.
1945 N. Devitt People & Places 142This word ‘bang’ is from the Dutch. A bangbroek, for instance, is a coward.
1970 C. Banach Informant, Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), Eastern CapeShe’s such a bangbroek that she won’t even swim across the river.
[1986 Sunday Star 9 Nov. 7As he left camp he taunted Maritz with the words ‘Totsiens, bangbroek’ (goodbye, coward).]
1990 Sunday Times 25 Feb. 19Must be doing wonders for the sales of Imodium (take two tablets to avoid nasty accidents) among the bangbroeke.
1991 People 10 Apr. 2‘I was pleading with the guy. I begged him to keep the Cressida and just let me off in one piece,’ he confessed. ‘But don’t call me bangbroeks till you’ve tried it yourself!’
1993 R. McNeill in Sunday Times 7 Nov. 21Now the series is being rescreened on TV1, but at a time when even fewer people are likely to see it...It’s absurd, but the bangbroeke evidently still rule at Auckland Park.
A coward, a ‘scaredy cat’.
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colloquial
bangalala, nounn.bangie, nounn.
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