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digadi. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
digadi, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
digadi in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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Swahili
Etymology
Various academics suggest that the first syllable of madigadi (from English mudguard) has been reinterpreted as the Swahili noun prefix ma-,[1][2] leading to the singular form digadi. However, this word appears to be unattested outside the academic literature.
Noun
digadi class V (plural madigadi class VI)
- (rare) singular of madigadi: mudguard, fender
References
- ^ Welmers, William Everett (1973) African Language Structures, Berkeley and Los Angeles, California: University of California Press, →ISBN, page 160:
Similarly, the (British) English word mudguard has been adopted in the form /madigadi/; the syllable /ma-/, however, is a plural prefix, so that the form is taken to mean ‘fenders’; the corresponding Swahili singular prefix has a zero allomorph with polysyllabic consonant-initial stems, so that ‘a fender’ is /digadi/.
- ^ McMahon, April M. S. (1994) Understanding Language Change, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 207: “Similarly, madigadi 'mudguards' and maching'oda 'marching orders' fit into the Swahili class of ma- plurals, which delete ma- in the singular, producing digadi 'mudguard' and ching'oda 'marching order'.”