this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2024
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Botany

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Hundreds of racist plant names will change after historic vote by botanists (www.nature.com)
submitted 3 months ago by neme@lemm.ee to c/botany@mander.xyz
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[–] Taniwha420@lemmy.world 3 points 3 months ago

It is the South African version of the n-word (I think SA racists also use the n-word, but the k-word carries the same weight. It is an Arabic word meaning "infidel", which means "no faith/belief". Islamic traders down the East African coast used it to refer to non-Muslim inhabitants of Africa.