bazazi

Swahili

Etymology

Borrowed from Arabic بَزَّاز (bazzāz, “cloth merchant, draper”).[1] The semantic shift from "trader" to "dishonest person" is because of the use of trickery to get people's custom.[2]

Pronunciation

  • (Unguja standard) IPA(key): /ɓɑˈzɑ.zi/
  • Audio (Kenya):(file)

Noun

bazazi class V (plural mabazazi class VI)

  1. conman, dishonest person

Derived terms

  • ubazazi (“dishonesty, cheating”)

References

  1. ^ Baldi, Sergio (30 November 2020), Dictionary of Arabic Loanwords in the Languages of Central and East Africa (Handbuch der Orientalistik; Erste Abteilung: Der Nahe und der Mittlere Osten; 145), Leiden • Boston: Brill, →ISBN, page 30 Nr. 226
  2. ^ Johnson, Frederick (1939), A Standard Swahili-English Dictionary, Oxford University Press, →ISBN, page 32
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