Swahili

noun

Swa·​hi·​li swä-ˈhē-lē How to pronounce Swahili (audio)
plural Swahili or Swahilis
1
: a member of a Bantu-speaking people of Zanzibar and the adjacent coast
2
: a Bantu language that is a trade and governmental language over much of East Africa and in the Congo region

Examples of Swahili in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Unlike other elder statesmen who spend their late careers managing their legacies, Carson apparently didn’t care much about the history books, preferring instead to sail his yacht and learn Swahili. Isaac Butler, The New Yorker, 6 Nov. 2024 Rowles Adams was one of the early hires at Swahili Village in D.C. Tim Carman, Washington Post, 16 July 2024 Current efforts are making AI more inclusive and accessible, especially by supporting low-resource languages that have traditionally been overlooked, like a recent dataset developed for Swahili. Olga Megorskaya, Forbes, 24 Oct. 2024 Others underline the interconnectedness of history and culture, like Zein Abdullah's chicken biryani which celebrates the prevalent Swahili culture that runs up and down the East Coast of Africa—and Arab influences on African cuisine. Arati Menon, Condé Nast Traveler, 17 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for Swahili 

Word History

Etymology

Arabic sawāḥil, plural of sāḥil coast

First Known Use

1814, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of Swahili was in 1814

Dictionary Entries Near Swahili

Cite this Entry

“Swahili.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/Swahili. Accessed 27 Nov. 2024.

Kids Definition

Swahili

noun
Swa·​hi·​li swä-ˈhē-lē How to pronounce Swahili (audio)
plural Swahili or Swahilis
1
: a member of a Bantu-speaking people of Zanzibar and the adjacent coast of Africa
2
: a Bantu language that is a trade and governmental language over much of East Africa and in the Congo region
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