‖kêrel, noun

/ˈkɛːrəl/
Forms:
carle, kerelShow more Also carle, kerel, kerl.
Origin:
Afrikaans.
colloquial
1.
a. A young man, a fellow; a boyfriend.
1837 J.E. Alexander Narr. of Voy. II. 63The general’s excellent defensive arrangements..soon put a stop to their proceedings; but not before the ‘slim carles’ had played..an ugly trick.
1873 Cape Monthly Mag. Oct. 215I have always known you to be a slimme kerel.
1896 M.A. Carey-Hobson At Home in Tvl 400‘Ach! God bedank! The carle lives. A dead body does not bleed like that!’ exclaimed the old Boer.
1899 ‘S. Erasmus’ Prinsloo 3He was a bold young kerel, and did many things that caused his father loss and sorrow.
1903 D. Blackburn Burgher Quixote 205Is it in the orders for a great lump of a kerel like that to stand and look on while a lady has to carry her own beer?
1911 E. Prov. Herald 25 Nov. 5We returned to the station and held sweet converse with diverse kerels, to whom we were ‘Man’ and ‘Jong,’ after the nature of the tribe.
1917 A.W. Carter Informant, Ladybrand 20 Aug.Major Herbst is the Secretary and seems quite a lekker Boer Kerel.
1937 F.B. Young They Seek a Country 238What is the poor kerel raving about? Tell him this house is the house of a Boer, not a store-keeper.
1955 V.M. Fitzroy Dark Bright Land 240Slim juffrouws would slip by on errands watched with interest by the young kêrels.
1965 W. Plomer Turbott Wolfe 159I’ve seen some queer kerels in these parts, but Soper!
1970 H.M. Musmeci Informant, Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha), Eastern CapeJan is my new kêrel (boyfriend).
1984 Frontline Mar. 14We think of our kêrels up there on the Border, Pursuing Angolans to utter disorder, What a burden it is to be White! we cry out.
1986 Drum Aug. 82I can hear some influences of Abdullah Ibrahim and Basil ‘Mannenburg’ Coetzee. I bet my shirt that we will be hearing a lot from these kerels.
1988 ‘K. Lemmer’ in Weekly Mail 2 Dec. 15Still there’s always next year. Meanwhile, we’re back in business kêrels, so let’s skinner!
b. As a form of address, equivalent to ‘chap’, ‘fellow’; often in the phrase ou kêrel, ‘old chap’; see also ou adjective sense 1 c.
1896 H.A. Bryden Tales of S. Afr. 214Kerel (my boy) you have never by chance heard the story of the vrouw there and her Frenchman?
1899 F.R.M. Cleaver in M.M. Cleaver Young S. Afr. (1913) 25I am not preaching at you, ou kerel, only the wind is in the wrong quarter to-day.
1900 B. Mitford Aletta 163‘Who are you, kerel, and have you a permit to remain here?’ interrupted, in Dutch, the peremptory voice of a Zarp. Now ‘kerel’ — meaning in this context ‘fellow’ — is a pretty familiar, not to say impudent form of address as proceeding from a common policeman.
1902 J.H.M. Abbott Tommy Cornstalk 81It is that ‘kerel’ French who is coming.
1920 S. Black Dorp 42‘Well now, kerel,’ said Van Ryn, after Anita had disappeared, ‘how about my little plan, hey?’
1931 H.C. Bosman Mafeking Rd (1969) 145‘No, kêrels,’ he said, ‘always when the Englishman comes, it means that a little later the Boer has got to shift’.
1939 S. Cloete Watch for Dawn 41I want no more than justice, kerels.
1965 K. Mackenzie Deserter 55‘Come, kêrels, or we will miss the war,’ said Hans, throwing his reins over his horse’s head.
c1966 M. Jabour in New S. Afr. Writing 95Every day I get up and say Jaap, ou kêrel, today’s the day. But no..that blerry sky stays as blue as ever.
1974 Cape Times 11 Nov. 9Willem Prinsloo..served his lekker peach brandy on the stoep as the kêrels gathered to bid good afternoon to the setting sun.
1979 J. Gratus Jo’burgers 130It’s all right, ou kêrel. They’re going to let us out.
1981 Flying Springbok Sept. 54You will not have been in South Africa very long before some earnest local..will offer you an object that looks like a chunk of the mahogany tree and say ‘have a bite, ou kêrel’. You, the ‘old man’ of the injunction, will no doubt turn your sensitive teeth away.
2. slang. In the plural : The police.
1978 L. Barnes in The 1820 Vol.51 No.12, 19Kêrel is also used to refer to the police: the kêrels are coming.
1993 ‘Jimbo’ programme insert, NapacKerels. Police.
A young man, a fellow; a boyfriend.
As a form of address, equivalent to ‘chap’, ‘fellow’; often in the phrase ou kêrel, ‘old chap’;
In the plural :The police.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18371993

Browse Related Words

By Category

Titles and Modes of Address
Ranks and Roles

By Origin

Afrikaans

By Usage

colloquial
slang
kennetjie, nounn.kerem, karem, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English