mgeni
noun
guest; visitor.
Use mgeni for one guest and wageni for several.
Forms
- wageni
- class 2 plural · guests; visitors.
Origins
Mgeni belongs to Swahili’s older Bantu vocabulary.
Sources5
Thilo Schadeberg; edited by Martin Haspelmath and Uri Tadmor, Swahili vocabulary, in World Loanword Database (2009), Swahili record Swahili-19-55-1, Swahili-19-56-1.
Identifies noun classes 1/2. Classifies mgeni as earlier Bantu vocabulary.
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903), PDF page 252.
Documents the guest sense.
Edward Steere, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884), PDF page 101.
Records wageni as the plural.
African Studies Institute, University of Georgia, KIKO: Kiswahili kwa kompyuta (University of Georgia), Unit 1 glossary, mgeni.
Documents the guest sense. Records wageni as the plural.
African Studies Institute, University of Georgia, KIKO: Kiswahili kwa kompyuta (University of Georgia), Unit 3 glossary, wageni.
Documents the visitor sense.
Examples
Mgeni amefika.
The guest has arrived.
Tunamsubiri mgeni.
We are waiting for the guest.
Wageni wanakula pamoja.
The guests are eating together.
Mgeni wetu anatoka Uganda.
Our visitor comes from Uganda.
Wageni wameleta zawadi.
The visitors have brought gifts.
Mpe mgeni kiti.
Give the guest a chair.
Chumba hiki ni cha wageni.
This room is for guests.
Mgeni anauliza njia.
The visitor is asking for directions.
Wageni wataondoka kesho.
The guests will leave tomorrow.
