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# swahili

«swahili» in Mova's school dictionary: **a language spoken by many millions of people in East…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (Swahili, uncountable — the language; also Kiswahili); adjective (Swahili)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Swahili is a language spoken by many millions of people in East Africa, especially in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda and nearby countries; in Swahili itself it is called Kiswahili. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swahili/#m1)

2) The Swahili are also a people of the East African coast, and Swahili describes their culture, such as Swahili cities and Swahili food. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swahili/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In geography and language lessons Swahili is the most widely spoken language of East Africa, used for trade between people who speak different first languages. Some Swahili words are known in English: «safari» (journey), «jambo» (hello), and «Hakuna matata» (no worries) from «The Lion King». «Asante» means thank you. It is written in the Latin alphabet. Phrases: speak Swahili, Swahili words, the Swahili coast.

### examples

- Swahili is spoken in Kenya and Tanzania. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swahili/#x1)
- «Jambo» means hello in Swahili. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swahili/#x2)
- The word «safari» comes from Swahili and means journey. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swahili/#x3)
- «Hakuna matata» is Swahili for «no worries». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swahili/#x4)
- Our teacher taught us to count to ten in Swahili. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swahili/#x5)
- «Asante sana» means «thank you very much» in Swahili. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swahili/#x6)
- Swahili has borrowed many words from Arabic. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swahili/#x7)
- People on the Swahili coast have traded by sea for centuries. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swahili/#x8)

### note

A name, so it is written with a capital S: Swahili. Pronounced «swah-HEE-lee». It is a language and people of Africa, not a country. The word «Swahili» itself comes from Arabic, meaning «of the coasts».

### In the corpora

- [More than 2,000 languages are spoken in Africa, and Swahili is a shared language for well over 100 million people in East Africa.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/geography/13-africa-countries-and-capitals/20/)
- [A lingua franca is a shared language used between people who speak different first languages, such as Swahili in East Africa.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/geography/25-languages-and-peoples-on-the-map/20/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «swahili» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/swahili/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.