bwana

[bwah-nuh]

noun

1. (in Africa) master; boss.

bwana

/ ˈbwɑːnə /

noun

1. (in E Africa) a master, often used as a respectful form of address corresponding to sir

Word History and Origins

Origin of bwana¹

1875–80; < Swahili < Arabic abūnā our father

Word History and Origins

Origin of bwana¹

Swahili, from Arabic abūna our father

Example Sentences

Two days after he was kidnapped in July 2007, the bloodied and battered corpse of Floribert Bwana Chui Bin Kositi was dumped outside a university campus in the city of Goma, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo.

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"A young person like yourselves, Floribert Bwana Chui… at only 26 years old, was killed in Goma for having blocked the passage of spoiled foodstuffs that would have been harmful for people's health," he said.

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"Floribert Bwana Chui was an intelligent and eloquent child from birth. He was a polite boy who respected us, his parents. I saw a bright future in him. I was expecting him to be a boy who would get married, have a wife and children," his mother Gertrude Kamara Ntawiha told UN-sponsored Radio Okapi last month before travelling to Rome for her son's beatification - which was also attended by Kositi's two younger brothers.

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Now nicknamed "Bwana Shea" or Mr Shea, he walks from village to village in the north-west of the country rallying people to protect what he sees as a vanishing treasure.

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He saw them all: “House of Wax,” “Bwana Devil,” “The Maze.”

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