Chichewa

See also: Chicheŵa

English

Alternative forms

• Chicheŵa

Etymology

Etymology tree

Proto-Bantu *kɪ̀-

Chichewa chi-

Chichewa Chi-

Chichewa -cheŵa

Chichewa Chicheŵáder.

English Chichewa

From Chichewa Chicheŵa, from chi- (“language”) + Cheŵa.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃɪˈt͡ʃɛwə/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Proper noun

Chichewa

1. The Bantu language of the Chewa tribe belonging to the Bantu linguistic family and one of Malawi’s national tongues promoted as the country’s lingua franca.

Synonyms

• Nyanja
• Chewa
• Chinyanja

Translations

language

• Chichewa: Chicheŵa class 7
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 齊切瓦語 / 齐切瓦语 (zh) (Qíqièwǎyǔ), 切瓦语

• Finnish: njandža (fi)
• Galician: chichewa
• Irish: Siséivis f
• Navajo: Chéwa bizaad
• Russian: нья́нджа (ru) m (nʹjándža), че́ва m (čéva)
• Swahili: Kinyanja class 7
• Yao (Africa): Ciceŵa class 7
• Zigula: Chinyasa class 7

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Chichewa terms
• ISO 639-1 code ny, ISO 639-3 code nya (SIL)
• Ethnologue entry for Chichewa, nya ⁠

Chichewa

Etymology

From Chi- (“Prefix for languages”) +‎ -cheŵa (“Chewa”). Cognate with Yao (Africa) Ciceŵa (“Chichewa”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t͡ʃiˈt͡ʃe.w⁽ᵝ⁾á/

Proper noun

Chicheŵá

1. Chichewa
2. customs of the Chewa people

Related terms

• Mcheŵa (“Chewa (person)”)