voorkamer, noun

/ˈfʊə(r)kɑːmə(r)/
Origin:
DutchShow more Dutch, voor front + kamer chamber.
Architecture
a. voorhuis. b. Any front room. Also figurative, and partial translation of fore-kamer.
1827 G. Thompson Trav. 49I slept this night in the outer apartment (voorkamer) or sitting-room of the house, which was without a door.
1834 Makanna (anon.) II. 41However rugged on the outside, the voorkamer of an Africander’s has that within which may attract.
1896 Cape Argus 2 Jan. 5The flash entered at the front doorway, and the shock was felt by all the occupants of the voorkamer, fourteen in number.
1900 D.S.F.A. Phillips S. Afr. Recollections 14The house consisted of the voorkamer, or hall, from which the kitchen and bedrooms..led.
1937 H. Sauer Ex Afr. 28We were then invited into the house, into the ‘voorkamer,’ or universal sitting-room, dining-room, and reception-room combined.
1952 G.M. Mills First Ladies of Cape 42Approached through the front door was the voorkamer or front room, on either side of which were sleeping apartments. Beyond the voorkamer was the achterhuis or back room.
1974 Sunday Times 20 Oct. (Mag. Sect.) 3An enormous russet-toned bathroom was divided into voor and agter kamer featuring twin hand basins, bidet, loo, a bath in the far distance, and a shower in outer space.
1983 F. De Villiers in Sunday Times 11 Sept. 35If English-speakers do not believe that the end of that bad old world is nigh, neither yet do many Nationalists who are trying against the odds to keep the old home intact, even as they invite English-speaking South Africa into the voorkamer.
1991 [see voorhuis].
Any front room. Also figurative, and partial translation of fore-kamer.
Entry Navigation

Visualise Quotations

Quotation summary

Senses

18271983

Browse Related Words

By Category

Architecture and Buildings

By Origin

Dutch

By Usage

figurative or allusive
voorhuis, nounn.voorkis, nounn.
Copyright © 2025 Dictionary Unit for South African English