kabisa
adverb
Completely; entirely; absolutely. Also used to strengthen a description.
Put kabisa after a description or statement for emphasis. With a negative statement, it can strengthen the refusal or denial.
Origins
Kabisa was already recorded in nineteenth-century Swahili for “utterly” or “completely”, including emphatic refusals. Its deeper derivation remains uncertain.
Sources3
Charles Sacleux, Grammaire des dialectes Swahilis (1909), 305.
Completely; entirely; absolutely; an intensifier. Kabisa strengthens descriptions and can emphasize a refusal.
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (1903), kabisa, page 150.
Completely; entirely; absolutely; an intensifier. Kabisa strengthens descriptions and can emphasize a refusal.
Edward Steere, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (1884), 467.
Kabisa appears as utterly in 1884.
Examples
Nimechoka kabisa.
I am completely exhausted.
Chumba kiko safi kabisa.
The room is completely clean.
Sitaki kabisa kuondoka.
I absolutely do not want to leave.
Nimesahau kabisa.
I have completely forgotten.
Hiyo ni tofauti kabisa.
That is completely different.
Sikuelewa kabisa.
I did not understand at all.
Chupa imejaa kabisa.
The bottle is completely full.
Barabara imefungwa kabisa.
The road is completely closed.
Bei hii ni nzuri kabisa.
This price is very good indeed.
