hardegat, adjective

/ˈhɑːdəxat//hardəxat/
Origin:
AfrikaansShow more Afrikaans, combining form of hard hard + gat (not in polite use) anus.
slang
Stubborn, obstinate.
1950 E. Partridge Dict. of Underworld 321Hardegat, Stubborn.
1965 J. Bennett Hawk Alone 205He was independent then and hardegat and people did it his way or not at all.
1975 J.H. Picard in Eng. Usage in Sn Afr. Vol.6 No.1, 37The expression hardegat refers to a most stubborn person — this is of recent coinage.
1983 D. Beckett in Frontline Feb. 33The people who seek seriously to talk turkey about how to come to terms with a truly race-free South Africa, have no need to feel irrelevant. Let them consider the mess that the hardegat option wrought to the north of us; and be fortified.
1984 R. Leaver in Frontline Mar. 39Those rare English Nats of the 50’s and 60’s were often peculiarly hardegat types, often bent on proving their belongingness by outRighting the Right.
1990 Weekly Mail 21 Dec. (Suppl.) 7Once South Africa started to change..its hardegat attitude to the outside world,..a great deal more would follow.
Stubborn, obstinate.
Derivatives:
Hence hardegat  noun, pl. hardegatte /-xatə/, an obstinate person.
1991 A. Van Wyk Birth of New Afrikaner 68I was eventually crowned king of the hardegatte (tough cookies).
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

19501991

Derivatives

hardegat, n.
hardegatte
harde beskuit, noun phrasen. phr.hardekool, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English