South West Africa
"south-west-africa" is a 15-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“South West Africa” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 17
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A former German colony (before World War I) and later a South African colony (from 1915 to 1990, illegally occupied after 1966 per United Nations stipulations) in Southern Africa; modern Namibia.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | South West Africa |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| Letters | 17 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “South West Africa” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
South West Africa is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A former German colony (before World War I) and later a South African colony (from 1915 to 1990, illegally occupied after 1966 per United Nations stipulations) in Southern Africa; modern Namibia.".
South West Africa doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. No confusable counterpart is on file for this word, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.
Etymologically, the entry records: Calque of German Südwestafrika, the name of the German colony before it was lost during World War I and put under South African administration. The correct English form is South West Africa, spelled S-O-U-T-H- -W-E-S-T- -A-F-R-I-C-A.
Definition
- 1A former German colony (before World War I) and later a South African colony (from 1915 to 1990, illegally occupied after 1966 per United Nations stipulations) in Southern Africa; modern Namibia.
Etymology
Calque of German Südwestafrika, the name of the German colony before it was lost during World War I and put under South African administration.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “South West Africa”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is S-O-U-T-H- -W-E-S-T- -A-F-R-I-C-A - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.