Swahili (redirected from Swahilis)

Swa·hi·li  (swä-hl)

n. pl. Swahili or Swa·hi·lis

1. A Bantu language of the coast and islands of eastern Africa from Somalia to Mozambique. It is an official language of Tanzania and is widely used as a lingua franca in eastern and east-central Africa. Also called Kiswahili.

2. An inhabitant of coastal eastern Africa for whom Swahili is the mother tongue.

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[Swahili, from Arabic sawil, of the coasts, from sawil, pl. of sil, coast, active participle of saala, to scrape off, smooth; see l in Semitic roots.]

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Swa·hili·an adj.

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Swahili [swɑːˈhiːlɪ]

n

1. (Linguistics / Languages) 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

2. (Social Science / Peoples) pl -lis, -li Also called Mswahili pl Waswahili a member of a people speaking this language, living chiefly in Zanzibar

adj

(Linguistics / Languages) (Social Science / Peoples) of or relating to the Swahilis or their language

[from Arabic sawāhil coasts]

Swahilian  adj

Thesaurus

Noun

1.

Swahili - the most widely spoken Bantu languages; the official language of Kenya and Tanzania and widely used as a lingua franca in east and central Africa kanzu - (Swahili) a long garment (usually white) with long sleeves; worn by men in East Africa Niger-Kordofanian, Niger-Kordofanian language - the family of languages that includes most of the languages spoken in Africa south of the Sahara; the majority of them are tonal languages but there are important exceptions (e.g., Swahili or Fula) Bantoid language, Bantu - a family of languages widely spoken in the southern half of the African continent

Translations

Swahili [swɑːˈhiːlɪ] N → swahili m, suajili m

Swahili

n (= African language) → Suaheli nt