Swahili

1. An agglutinative language of the Bantu branch widely spoken in East Africa. Born in its modern form from the hybridization of the Arabic and Bantu cultures, it was the language of the traders in East Africa, and spread along the routes of trade.

   Similarly, Swahili evolved as the trading language in East Africa and is described as having an Arab vocabulary upon an African grammar.

   2021 April 25, John Malathronas, “Which languages are easiest – and most difficult – for native English speakers to learn?”, in CNN, archived from the original on 22 Mar 2022

   1 more example

   On Tuesday night at the Club Serene in Brooklyn, Mayor Koch proclaimed Kwanzaa Week in New York. Then he told the crowd of about 400 that he had practiced his Swahili in order to pronounce correctly such exotic-sounding words as kujichagulia (self-determination), ujamaa (cooperative economics) and imani (faith), the theme of Kwanzaa '83.

   1983 December 30, Ron Alexander, “The Evening Hours”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 03 Jan 2022, page B7

   Synonyms: Kiswahili

plural Swahilis

1. A member of various ethnic groups — mainly Bantu, Afro-Arab and Comorian — inhabiting the Swahili coast.

   The final sources for the early history of the Swahili are the oral traditions related by them about their own past.

   2017, Derek Nurse, Thomas Spear, The Swahili, page 29

   1 more example

   The Swahilis are a unique and important community that began to form before the arrival of Islam, as a result of intermarriage between Arab traders who came to the coast and women from local ethnic groups.

   2000, Arye Oded, Islam and Politics in Kenya, page 12

   Synonyms: Waswahili