Nyama
/ˈnjɑː.mə/noun
Meat, especially in East African usage.
Did you know?Swahili nyama comes from a widespread Bantu root referring to animal flesh or an animal itself, but it is not related to Latin anima or English animal despite the striking similarity.
Etymological Timeline
Proto-Bantu
Proto-Bantu
*-nyama
“Animal flesh; meat, reconstructed from related Bantu languages”
Medieval period
Bantu languages
nyama / inyama
“Meat or animal flesh, with noun-class prefixes varying by language”
17th–19th Century
Swahili
nyama
“Meat; animal flesh”
19th Century
Swahili
nyama choma
“Roasted or grilled meat”
20th Century
English
nyama
“An East African word for meat, used as a loanword in English”
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