Swahili
[ swah-hee-lee ]
/ swɑˈhi li /
|
noun, plural Swa·hi·lis, (especially collectively) Swa·hi·li for 1.
a member of a Bantu people of Zanzibar and the neighboring coast of Africa.
Also Kiswahili, 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.
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Swahili
/ (swɑːˈhiːlɪ) /
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 plural -lis or -li a member of a people speaking this language, living chiefly in Zanzibar
adjective
of or relating to the Swahilis or their language
Word Origin for Swahili
C19: from Arabic sawāhil coasts
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Swahili
name of a Bantu people inhabiting the coast of South Africa, 1814, from Arabic sawahil, plural of sahil "coast" + gentilic suffix -i.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper