Swahili
Americannoun
-
Swahilis,
plural
-
Swahili
plural
-
a member of a Bantu people of Zanzibar and the neighboring coast of Africa.
-
Also Kiswahili or ki-Swahili the Bantu language of the Swahili people, used also as a lingua franca in Tanzania, Kenya, and parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
noun
-
Also called: Kiswahili. a language of E Africa that is an official language of Kenya and Tanzania and is widely used as a lingua franca throughout E and central Africa. It is a member of the Bantu group of the Niger-Congo family, originally spoken in Zanzibar, and has a large number of loan words taken from Arabic and other languages
-
Also called: Mswahili. Waswahili. a member of a people speaking this language, living chiefly in Zanzibar
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of Swahili
First recorded in 1810–15; from Swahili, from Arabic sawāḥiliy “of or pertaining to the coast,” equivalent to sawāḥil, plural of sāḥil “coast” + -iy adjective and noun suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
He arrived with the ability to speak three languages — French, Swahili and Lingala.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 2, 2026
Victor, Mark, Erik and Moses were included in WhatsApp groups where fellow Kenyans reassured them in Swahili that they were heading for good salaries and exciting new lives.
From Barron's ● Feb. 9, 2026
"The country's universities, especially the Somali National University, should focus more on developing the Swahili language, which is the language of East Africa," President Mohamud said.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2025
"Adopting Swahili is important for our integration into the region," he said.
From BBC ● Oct. 8, 2025
Not in learning Italian or Swahili or Mandarin, but in language itself, its shape and structure, the Lego blocks of sounds that snap together to make words and sentences.
From "The 57 Bus" by Dashka Slater
But only a few of our men were Swahilis by blood.
From A Book-Lover's Holidays in the Open by Theodore Roosevelt
The Swahilis could not have been more confounded if they had seen a ghost.
From Settlers and Scouts by Herbert Strang
As he watched, he saw the four Swahilis emerge from the scrub, strike the track, and hasten towards the north.
From Settlers and Scouts by Herbert Strang
It turned out that one of the Swahilis was an old rival of Coja ben Selim.
From Settlers and Scouts by Herbert Strang
Ferrier went to the gate, and saw that the group consisted of two Swahilis and four of their followers.
From Settlers and Scouts by Herbert Strang
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
