Africanised

Part of speech: verb, adjective

Definitions

1. Brought under African influence or given African character, customs, or culture ; describing bees that have become aggressive through interbreeding with African honeybee stock
2. Having taken on African traits, practices, or identity ; said of honeybee colonies that have acquired the hot temper of African bees through crossbreeding
3. Converted to African norms or character in culture or language ; referring to hives whose bees display defensive aggression inherited from African subspecies

Etymology: "Africanised" is the past tense and past participle of "Africanise," which is formed from "African" plus the suffix "-ise," meaning to make or make like. The verb therefore means to make something African in character, or to bring African traits, people or practices into a place or system. Its meaning turns on the direction of the change: a bee colony, a language, a farm or a population can each be described as "Africanised" when African characteristics take hold in it. The suffix does the grammatical work here. English has long turned nouns and adjectives into verbs this way, as in "modernise" or "Christianise," and "Africanise" follows that pattern directly. Because the base is a broad geographic adjective rather than a specific culture or language, the same verb can describe very different kinds of change, from a biological trait to a social or political one.

Synonyms: africanized