rafiki

noun

friend; companion.

A broad relationship word; intimacy still comes from context and modifiers.

Origins

Rafiki entered Swahili from Arabic رَفِيق (rafīq), “companion” or “friend.”

Sergio Baldi, Dictionary of Arabic Loanwords in the Languages of Central and East Africa (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2021), entry 1102, 137.
Traces rafiki to Arabic رَفِيق (rafīq), “friend.”
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903), 324.
Records rafiki as friend, marked as Arabic.

Rafiki yangu anaishi Nairobi.
My friend lives in Nairobi.
Nilimwalika rafiki yangu.
I invited my friend.
Rafiki wa kweli husikiliza.
A true friend listens.
Rafiki zangu walifika mapema.
My friends arrived early.
Anatafuta rafiki wa kusafiri naye.
They are looking for a friend to travel with.
Rafiki yangu alileta chakula.
My friend brought food.
Tuwe rafiki, si maadui.
Let us be friends, not enemies.
Nilikutana na rafiki wa zamani.
I met an old friend.
Rafiki husaidia wakati mgumu.
A friend helps in a hard time.