zote
determiner · adjective
all; every (class 10 / N-class plural agreement of -ote).
Common in fixed phrases such as siku zote (“always / all days”). Lemma family is -ote; this page targets the high-frequency surface form.
Origins
Zote is the class-agreeing “all” form learners meet in everyday phrases. It belongs to the -ote “all / every” family, which the comparative record treats as unborrowed.
Sources3
M. Haspelmath and U. Tadmor, World Loanword Database · Swahili profile (Max Planck Institute / Lexibank, 2009), Swahili profile; forms.csv (-ote).
Lists Swahili -ote for all with no evidence for borrowing.
A. C. Madan, Swahili-English Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1903), siku zote.
Records siku zote among common always / all-days expressions.
Edward Steere, A Handbook of the Swahili Language as Spoken at Zanzibar (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1884), class table and comparison examples with zote.
Records zote among class-agreeing all-forms and in comparison examples.
Examples
Siku zote.
Always. / All days.
Nguo zote ni safi.
All the clothes are clean.
Pesa zote zimekwisha.
All the money is finished.
Nyumba zote zilifungwa.
All the houses were closed.
Barua zote zimefika.
All the letters have arrived.
Siku zote anakaribia mapema.
He always arrives early.
Tumeona picha zote.
We have seen all the pictures.
Habari zote ni nzuri.
All the news is good.
Funguo zote ziko mezani.
All the keys are on the table.
