- 1n/swɑˈhili/Swahili language史瓦希里語
A Bantu language spoken in eastern and central Africa. It is widely used as a shared language between people whose first languages are different, and it is an official language of Kenya and Tanzania.
文法不可數名詞：通常不加 a/an，也不加 -s 來表示複數。
Swahili 指東非的一種語言。它屬於班圖語系。肯亞和坦尚尼亞都把它訂為官方語言。最特別的地方在它的角色。東非族群多，母語也多。大家做生意、上學、搭車，就改用 Swahili 溝通。這種「不同母語的人共用的語言」，英文叫 lingua franca，中文常說「通用語」。它的詞彙裡有不少從阿拉伯文借來的字，這跟古代的沿岸貿易有關。當語言講的時候不可數，前面不加 a，第一個字母要大寫。
示範例句 · Example
Ren is learning Swahili before his trip to Tanzania.
中文翻譯阿仁在他去坦尚尼亞的旅行之前，正在學史瓦希里語。
Swahili is the name of a language, so it takes a capital letter and no article: you speak Swahili, you say something in Swahili. It belongs to the Bantu family, and it grew up along the East African coast where traders met. What makes it unusual is the job it does. East Africa has many peoples and many first languages, and Swahili is the language they share for trade, school, radio and travel. A shared language used this way has a name in English: a lingua franca. This sense is uncountable — never 'a Swahili' for the language.
常見搭配
speak Swahili
說史瓦希里語
to be able to use the Swahili language
Both drivers speak Swahili and a little English.
in Swahili
用史瓦希里語
using the Swahili language
The signs at the station are in Swahili and English.
learn Swahili
學史瓦希里語
to study the language
She learned Swahili from her neighbours, not from a book.
the Swahili word for something
某個東西的史瓦希里語說法
the Swahili name of a thing or idea
He asked for the Swahili word for water.
意思相近
Kiswahili
用法接近
Bantulingua franca
- 2n/swɑˈhili/Swahili person史瓦希里人
A person belonging to the people of the East African coast — in the dictionary, the Bantu people of — who originally spoke this language. This sense is countable: one Swahili, several Swahilis.
文法可數名詞：前面可以加 a/an，要表示複數時常常加 -s。
這個意思指人，不是語言。先有這群人，語言才跟著他們的名字叫。他們住在東非沿岸和外海的島上，尚吉巴是其中一個中心。這些沿海城鎮是靠海上貿易長起來的。這個意思可數。可以說 a Swahili，複數是 Swahilis。同一個字也能直接當形容詞用，像 Swahili towns、Swahili traders，形狀不變。要注意：我們的來源字典寫的是「尚吉巴的班圖人」，另一份來源描述的範圍更廣，涵蓋整條海岸的幾個族群。
The people came first and the language is named after them. This sense is countable, so it takes a and a plural: a Swahili, the Swahilis. It names people of the coast and the islands, whose towns grew up around sea trade. Our source dictionary describes them as the Bantu people of Zanzibar; another source in the packet describes a wider group along the whole Swahili coast, and that difference is flagged for review rather than smoothed over here. As an adjective the word does the same work without changing shape: Swahili towns, Swahili traders.
常見搭配
a Swahili
一位史瓦希里人
one person of this people
Her father was a Swahili from the island.
the Swahilis
史瓦希里人（整個族群）
this people as a group
The Swahilis traded with ships from many countries.
the Swahili coast
史瓦希里海岸
the stretch of East African coast where these people live
The old towns of the Swahili coast face the sea.
用法接近
BantuComorian