Swahili

See also: swahili

English

Etymology

From Swahili swahili, from Arabic سَوَاحِل‎ (sawāḥil), plural of سَاحِل‎ (sāḥil, “coast”).

Pronunciation
  • (UK) IPA(key): /swəˈhiːli/
  • (US) IPA(key): /swɑˈhili/, /swəˈhili/

Noun

Swahili (uncountable)

  1. An agglutinative language of the Bantu branch widely spoken in East Africa. Born of the hybridization of the Arabic and Bantu cultures, it was the language of the traders in East Africa, and spread along the routes of trade.

Synonyms

Translations

See also
  • Wiktionary's coverage of Swahili terms
  • Appendix:Swahili Swadesh list for a Swadesh list of basic vocabulary words in Swahili

Further reading

Dutch

Pronunciation
  • Audio(file)

Proper noun

Swahili n

  1. Swahili (language)
This article is issued from Wiktionary. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.