pole
interjection · adverb
an expression of sympathy; slowly or gently.
A context-rich word for acknowledging difficulty, pain, effort, or pace.
Origins
Pole belongs with the earlier Bantu gentle and slow family linked to recovering or cooling; reduplicated polepole means gently or slowly. The everyday sympathy use is the same form in social speech.
M. Haspelmath and U. Tadmor, World Loanword Database · Swahili profile (Max Planck Institute / Lexibank, 2009), Swahili profile; forms.csv (polepole).
Ages polepole as earlier Bantu and links it to -pole / -poa.
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903), 317.
Records -pole as mild or gentle, and adverbial gently or slowly with reduplicated polepole.
Examples
Pole kwa kuchelewa.
Sorry for being late.
Tembea pole pole.
Walk slowly.
Alisema pole baada ya kugonga mlango.
They said sorry after knocking on the door.
Pole sana kwa hasara yako.
I am very sorry for your loss.
Fanya kazi pole pole.
Do the work slowly.
Pole, sikukusikia vizuri.
Sorry, I did not hear you well.
Alimwambia pole baada ya mtihani.
They told them sorry after the exam.
Endelea pole, hakuna haraka.
Continue gently, there is no rush.
Pole kwa uchovu wa safari.
Sorry for the tiredness of the journey.
