n.
Pronunciation: swä- ' h ē -l ē
Function: noun
Inflected Form: plural Swahili or Swahilis
Etymology: Arabic saw ā ḥ il, plural of s ā ḥ il coast
Date: 1814
1 : a member of a Bantu-speaking people of Zanzibar and the adjacent coast
2 : a Bantu language that is a trade and governmental language over much of East Africa and in the Congo region