Etymology

Kiswahili

K5I1S1W4A1H4I1L1I1

Today it means: Swahili, an agglutinative Bantu language widely spoken in East Africa. Full definition →

Swahili Kiswahili ← Arabic سَوَاحِل (sawāḥil) ← Proto-Bantu *kɪ̀-
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The story

  1. Proto-Bantu*kɪ̀-
  2. Swahiliki-
  3. Arabicسَوَاحِل (sawāḥil)
  4. SwahiliKiswahili
  5. English todayKiswahili

Borrowed from Swahili Kiswahili, from ki- + Arabic سَوَاحِل (sawāḥil).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.