Swahili
proper noun
the Swahili language; in Swahili, Kiswahili.
Use Swahili as the international language name. In Swahili, Kiswahili names the language, Mswahili one Swahili person, and Waswahili the people. Swahili is not the ordinary translation of “coast”; use pwani.
More meanings
- 02noun
a Swahili person or the Swahili people; in Swahili, Mswahili and Waswahili.
Use Mswahili for one person and Waswahili for the people; identity is contextual and should not be inferred from language use alone.
Forms
- Kiswahili
- class 7 noun · the Swahili language
- Mswahili
- class 1 singular · one Swahili person
- Waswahili
- class 2 plural · Swahili people
Origins
Swahili is historically linked to Arabic sawāḥil, “coasts,” the plural of sāḥil, “coast.” Older sources applied the related name to the coast and to the language. That history does not make Swahili the everyday word for “coast” today; that word is pwani.
Sources4
David P. Bresnahan, Inland from Mombasa: East Africa and the Making of the Indian Ocean World (Oakland: University of California Press, 2025), Note on language, printed xii; PDF 15.
Distinguishes the unprefixed international label Swahili from Kiswahili for the language and Waswahili for the people.
Sergio Baldi, Dictionary of Arabic Loanwords in the Languages of Central and East Africa (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2021), entry 1260, printed 140; PDF 154.
Links Arabic sāḥil and its plural sawāḥil, meaning littoral, coast, or seashore, with the historical Swahili coast label.
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903), printed 323 and 354; PDF 349 and 380.
Records historical Swahili and Suaheli for the Swahili coast, Mswahili for one Swahili person, Kiswahili for the language, and pwani for coast or shore.
Edward Steere, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884), Preface, printed xiii; PDF 19.
Explains the language name as a modified form of Arabic sawāḥil, the plural of sāḥil, coast.
Examples
Ninajifunza Kiswahili kila siku.
I study Swahili every day.
Kiswahili kinazungumzwa katika nchi nyingi za Afrika.
Swahili is spoken in many African countries.
Yeye ni Mswahili kutoka Zanzibar.
They are a Swahili person from Zanzibar.
Waswahili wana historia ndefu kwenye pwani ya Afrika Mashariki.
The Swahili people have a long history on the East African coast.
Neno la Kiswahili kwa “coast” ni pwani.
The Swahili word for “coast” is pwani.
Mswahili humaanisha mtu mmoja; Waswahili humaanisha watu wengi.
Mswahili refers to one person; Waswahili refers to many people.
Swahili ni jina linalotumiwa kimataifa kwa lugha ya Kiswahili.
Swahili is the international name used for the Kiswahili language.
Jina Swahili linahusiana kihistoria na neno la Kiarabu linalohusu pwani.
The name Swahili is historically related to an Arabic word associated with the coast.
Neno Swahili halimaanishi “pwani” moja kwa moja katika matumizi ya leo.
The word Swahili does not directly mean “coast” in modern usage.
