Standard Lemma guide

witdoeke

noun · 1 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

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1

noun

Meaning 1

Members of conservative black vigilante groups in the South African provinces of the Cape and Orange Free State in the 1980s.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: historical, plural, plural-only

Examples

  • 1998, Truth and Reconciliation Commission Final Report, Volume 3, Chapter 5, Subsection 29, After the witdoeke attacks of May and June 1986, thousands of refugees were forced to live in schools and churches. Refugees were arrested from these centres and tortured to make them confess to a range of public violence crimes. [...] It is notable that few if any witdoeke were arrested or charged.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From Afrikaans wit (“white”) + doek (“cloth”), referring to the strips of white cloth members wore on their heads or arms.