Swahili
/swɑˈhili/noun
Swahili is spelled S-W-A-H-I-L-I: 7 letters and 3 syllables. It appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,063rd most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, Swahili means “A member of various ethnic groups – mainly Bantu, Afro-Arab and Comorian – inhabiting the Swahili coast” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of Swahili is Swahilis.
How many letters and syllables are in Swahili?
| Letters | 7: S-W-A-H-I-L-I |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | about once in every 1 million words; the 34,063rd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is Swahili?
Swahili appears about once in every 1 million words in written English, the 34,063rd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce Swahili?
- UK /swəˈhiːli/
- US /swɑˈhili/
- US /swəˈhili/
Swahili has 3 syllables (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Vealhurl-Swahili.wav, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with Swahili?
3 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as Swahili from its last stressed vowel (/ili/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of Swahili
- Swahilis plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does Swahili mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A member of various ethnic groups – mainly Bantu, Afro-Arab and Comorian – inhabiting the Swahili coast.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does Swahili come from?
Borrowed from Swahili Mswahili / Kiswahili, from Arabic سَوَاحِلِيّ (sawāḥiliyy, “(people) of the coasts”), from سَوَاحِل (sawāḥil, “coasts”), broken plural of سَاحِل (sāḥil, “coast”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).