Meanings
plural matatus
- KenyaUgandaA minivan used as a shared taxi, especially one operating without a licence.
Memories of their sense of trepidation, or even the anger, aboard a matatu could still be visceral.
2017, Kenda Mutongi, Matatu: A History of Popular Transportation in Nairobi, page 983 more examples
A matatu is also more profitable when driven by its owner than by an employed driver, or if the employee-driver pays in all the earnings and the owner meets the operating costs, rather than when the owner demands a fixed sum of money daily, with the operator keeping the surplus.
1982, United Nations Centre for Human Settlements Habitat NewsFor now, matatus made lanes along both sides of tarmac main roads and went over, around or through potholes depending on their speed.
2010, Philo Ikonya, Leading the Night, page 102The roads were jammed with matatu minibuses sporting cartoonish liveries, and trucks billowing black smoke into the dazzling African light.
2024 January 13, David Pilling, “Revenge of the moderators”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 15
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA minivan used as a shared taxi, especially one operating without a licence.
Origin
- Proto-Bantu*mà-
- Swahilima-
- Swahilimatat
- Englishmatatu
Borrowed from Swahili matatu, from ma- + -tatu (“three”).
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Finnish matatu, reittitaksi
- matatuminivan often used as a share taxi — see also minivan, shared taxi
- reittitaksiminivan often used as a share taxi — see also minivan, shared taxi
Swahili matatu, moshogi
- matatuminivan often used as a share taxi — see also minivan, shared taxi
- moshogiminivan often used as a share taxi — see also minivan, shared taxi
- shedhiminivan often used as a share taxi — see also minivan, shared taxi
- daladalaminivan often used as a share taxi — see also minivan, shared taxi
Ukrainian матату, матрей
- матату (matatu)minivan often used as a share taxi — see also minivan, shared taxi
- матрей (matrej)minivan often used as a share taxi — see also minivan, shared taxi
Rhymes & wordplay
Anagrams
Cite this entry
matatu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/matatu
“matatu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/matatu. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “matatu,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/matatu.
Source: matatu on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.