'baggara' originates from Arabic, specifically the word 'baggār' (بَقّار / بَغَّار), where 'baggār' meant 'cowherd' or 'cattle-driver'.

'baggara' entered English in the late 19th to early 20th century via colonial, geographic and anthropological reports; it was borrowed from Arabic 'baggār' and used to refer to the cattle-herding Arab tribes of the Sahel.

Initially it meant 'cowherd' in Arabic, but in English it came to denote the specific ethnic grouping of Arab cattle-herding tribes (and members of those tribes).