kitu
noun
thing; item.
Use kitu for one thing and vitu for more than one.
Forms
- vitu
- plural · things.
Origins
Kitu is inherited from Proto-Bantu *kɨ̀ntʊ̀, the same root behind the wider Bantu “-ntu” (person/thing) word family.
Sources5
Martin Haspelmath and Uri Tadmor (editors), World Loanword Database: Swahili (Max Planck Digital Library, 2009), wold-master/cldf/forms.csv row 35012.
Records the thing sense and noun classes.
Charles Sacleux, Grammaire des dialectes swahilis (Paris: Procure des Pères du Saint-Esprit, 1909), PDF page 174.
Documents a thing or item.
Edward Steere, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884), PDF page 47.
Documents a thing or item.
University of Kansas Open Language Resource Center, University of Kansas Kiswahili Glossary (University of Kansas), kitu glossary rows.
Documents a thing or item.
- kitu (Wiktionary)
States kitu is inherited from Proto-Bantu *kɨ̀ntʊ̀.
Examples
Nataka kununua kitu kidogo.
I want to buy something small.
Kuna kitu mfukoni mwako.
There's something in your pocket.
Sijasahau kitu chochote.
I haven't forgotten anything.
Kitu hiki ni cha nani?
Whose is this?
Vitu vyangu viko wapi?
Where are my things?
Nina kitu cha kukuambia.
I have something to tell you.
Hakuna kitu cha kuogopa.
There's nothing to be afraid of.
Umeacha kitu ndani ya gari.
You've left something in the car.
Nilete vitu vyote kesho?
Should I bring everything tomorrow?
