chakula
noun
food; a meal.
The plural is vyakula. Chakula cha mchana names the midday meal.
Forms
- vyakula
- foods
Origins
Chakula is built from kula, 'to eat,' with the class 7/8 noun prefix that turns a verb into the thing done, literally 'thing for eating.' The same pattern appears in Chichewa chakudya, Tumbuka cakulya, and Yao cakulya, and comparative work treats it as old, inherited Bantu vocabulary rather than a later borrowing.
Sources4
- Swahili vocabulary: chakula (World Loanword Database, 2009)
Classifies chakula as noun class 7/8, morphologically analyzable as cha-kula ('of/for eating'), dates it to the earlier Bantu layer, and records no evidence of borrowing.
Edward Steere, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884), PDF page 290.
Lists chakula, plural vyakula, and names for meals. Historical Zanzibar evidence.
University of Kansas Open Language Resource Center, University of Kansas Kiswahili Glossary (University of Kansas Open Language Resource Center), chakula glossary rows.
Gives food and meal as meanings of chakula.
- chakula (Wiktionary)
Analyzes chakula as cha- ('of') plus kula ('eating'), and compares Chichewa chakudya, Tumbuka cakulya, and Yao cakulya.
Examples
Ninapenda chakula kitamu sana.
I like delicious food.
Je, umekula chakula cha mchana?
Have you eaten lunch?
Vyakula vingi viliandaliwa kwa ajili ya sherehe.
Many foods were prepared for the celebration.
Chakula cha jioni kiko tayari.
Dinner is ready.
Aliniletea chakula kizuri kutoka sokoni.
He brought me good food from the market.
Watoto wanapenda vyakula vitamu.
Children like tasty food.
Chakula cha asubuhi kiko mezani.
Breakfast is on the table.
Tafadhali, ongeza chakula kidogo zaidi.
Please, add a little more food.
Vyakula vya baharini ni maarufu hapa.
Seafood is popular here.
