mgonjwa
noun
a person who is sick; a patient.
Mimi ni mgonjwa means “I’m sick,” especially when identifying yourself as ill, such as at a clinic. In everyday conversation, Ninaumwa or Sijisikii vizuri is often more natural. The same word names the person: mgonjwa is a sick person or, in medical contexts, a patient.
Forms
- wagonjwa
- noun class 1/2 plural
Origins
Mgonjwa combines the class-1 singular prefix m- with the adjective stem -gonjwa, “sick” or “ill.” Its plural, wagonjwa, uses the corresponding wa- prefix. The deeper history of the stem -gonjwa has not yet been securely established.
Sources3
Charles W. Rechenbach et al., Rechenbach Swahili-English Dictionary (Washington, D.C.: Catholic University of America Press, 1967), 317.
Defines mgonjwa as “sick person, patient,” directly supporting both glosses in the entry’s single sense.
A. C. Madan, Madan Swahili-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903), 84, 225.
Records the adjective stem -gonjwa as “sick” or “ill,” links it with ugonjwa and gonjweza, and uses mgonjwa in contextual examples.
Edward Steere; rev. A. C. Madan, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884), 78, 97, 369.
Defines mgonjwa as a sick person or invalid and records the plural wagonjwa.
Examples
Mimi ni mgonjwa leo.
I am sick today.
Kuna mgonjwa hapa; tunahitaji daktari.
There is a sick person here; we need a doctor.
Mgonjwa anamsubiri daktari.
The patient is waiting for the doctor.
Daktari anampima mgonjwa.
The doctor is examining the patient.
Mgonjwa anahitaji kupumzika.
The sick person needs to rest.
Msafiri alikuwa mgonjwa jana, lakini leo anajisikia vizuri zaidi.
The traveler was sick yesterday but feels better today.
Wagonjwa wanasubiri nje ya chumba cha daktari.
The patients are waiting outside the doctor’s room.
Ukiwa mgonjwa, mwambie mhudumu wa hoteli.
If you are sick, tell a member of the hotel staff.
Ninaenda hospitalini kumtembelea mgonjwa.
I am going to the hospital to visit a patient.
