bwana
English edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Swahili bwana (“master”), from Arabic أَبُونَا (ʔabūnā, “our father”). Doublet of abbot.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
bwana (plural bwanas)
- (slang) Big boss, important person.
- 2005, David Foster Wallace, Consider the Lobster and Other Essays, New York: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 208:
- It is Jim C.’s custom always to say “Up Simba” in a fake-deep bwana voice as he hefts the camera to his right shoulder […]
Usage notes edit
Not always used as a favorable term.
Anagrams edit
Anguthimri edit
Noun edit
bwana
- (Mpakwithi) bream
References edit
- Terry Crowley, The Mpakwithi dialect of Anguthimri (1981), page 185
Chichewa edit
Etymology edit
Borrowed from Swahili bwana (“master”), from Arabic أَبُونَا (ʔabūnā, “our father”).
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
bwána class 1a (plural abwána class 2)
Italian edit
Noun edit
bwana m (invariable)
Swahili edit
Alternative forms edit
- (abbreviation) Bw.
Etymology edit
From Arabic أَبُونَا (ʔabūnā, “our father”).
Pronunciation edit
Audio (Kenya) (file)
Noun edit
bwana (ma class, plural mabwana)