Standard Lemma guide

Africana

noun · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • /ˌæfɹɪˈkænə/
  • /ˌæfɹɪˈkɑnə/
  • /ˌæfɹɪˈkeɪnə/
  • UK: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ɑːnə

1

noun

Meaning 1

Collectible objects, such as maps, documents and artifacts, peculiar to Africa, especially Southern Africa.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: plural, plural-only

Examples

  • Africana is a word of many different meanings; to one it means books and other printed or manuscript material, to another it means objects other than books. For Africana Notes and News it is used in its widest sense ... it is restricted only from a geographical point of view; it denotes not the whole of Africa but only Southern Africa. (Africana Notes & News, 1943)

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

noun

Meaning 2

The various cultures and peoples of Africa and the African diaspora, considered collectively.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: plural, plural-only

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Latin āfricāna, the neuter plural of āfricānus (“African”). By surface analysis, Africa + -ana (“things (plural)”), analogous to Americana. First attested in 1908.

Real reading context

Africana in complete knowledge articles

Womanism Literature & books · Advanced · 17 uses