# Swahili

Pronunciation: US say "swah-HEE-lee" /swɑˈhili/; UK say "swuh-HEE-lee" /swəˈhiːli/

## Proper noun

1. An agglutinative language of the Bantu branch, widely spoken in East Africa; it developed in its modern form from the mixing of Arabic and Bantu cultures and spread along trade routes.
   - Simple: A language spoken by millions of people in East Africa, especially in Tanzania and Kenya.
   - _Swahili is an official language in both Tanzania and Kenya._
   - _He conducts business in Swahili with partners from Mombasa to Dar es Salaam._

## Noun

2. A member of various ethnic groups (mainly Bantu, Afro-Arab, and Comorian) inhabiting the coastal regions of East Africa.
   - Simple: A person from one of the groups of people living along the east coast of Africa.
   - _She married a Swahili from Zanzibar whose family had traded along the coast for generations._
   - _The Swahilis of Lamu have built houses of coral stone for centuries._

## Origin

Borrowed from Swahili, which comes from Arabic sawāḥiliyy meaning "(people) of the coasts," from sawāḥil ("coasts"), the plural of sāḥil ("coast").

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/swahili (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).