pika
verb
to cook.
Pikia means to cook for someone; the person is marked in the verb, as in nilimpikia, I cooked for him or her.
Forms
- pikia
- applicative; to cook for someone
Origins
Pika is inherited from Proto-Bantu -jìpɨka, “to cook, to boil.”
Sources3
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903), PDF page 339.
Records cooking with pika and the applied form pikia for cooking for someone. Historical evidence; not a survey of current Kenyan speech.
University of Kansas Open Language Resource Center, University of Kansas Kiswahili Glossary (University of Kansas Open Language Resource Center), pika glossary rows.
Gives -pika as “to cook”.
- pika (Wiktionary)
States pika is inherited from Proto-Bantu *-jìpɨka.
Examples
Mama anapika chakula kitamu.
Mother is cooking delicious food.
Je, unapika nini leo?
What are you cooking today?
Alipika wali na samaki jana.
She cooked rice and fish yesterday.
Tutapika chai asubuhi hii.
We’ll make tea this morning.
Wapishi wanapika kwa bidii jikoni.
The cooks are cooking diligently in the kitchen.
Nimepika supu ya mboga kwa ajili ya wageni.
I have cooked vegetable soup for the guests.
Usipike chakula kingi sana, kitaharibika.
Don’t cook too much food, it will spoil.
Kupika ni sanaa inayohitaji uvumilivu.
To cook is an art that requires patience.
Nilimpikia rafiki yangu chakula cha jioni.
I cooked dinner for my friend.
