Where does “kiSwahili” come from?

kiSwahili (English) comes from Swahili kiSwahili, from Arabic سَوَاحِل, from Arabic سَاحِل — coast; boundary, coast; border of the desert.

kiSwahili (English): Swahili, an agglutinative Bantu language widely spoken in East Africa

Definitions

  1. Swahili, an agglutinative Bantu language widely spoken in East Africa

Ancestry of “kiSwahili”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1SwahilikiSwahiliSwahili language
2Arabicسَوَاحِلcoastal dwellers
3Arabicسَاحِلcoast; boundary, coast; border of the desert
Every word from Arabic سَاحِل →Every word from Arabic سَوَاحِل →Every word from Swahili kiSwahili →