tisa
The Swahili word for nine is tisa.
tisa is used as the cardinal number 9. It can also function as a noun to refer to the digit or figure 9, or to a card with nine pips.
Meaning: cardinal number (num)
Is it said differently in some regions?
In Tanzania, people commonly use tisa to mean nine.
Related words
Did you know?
- The phonetics of tisa reflect the simplification of the Arabic 'ayn' sound, which is a deep guttural consonant that does not exist in native Bantu languages.
- Even though Swahili is a Bantu language, its number system for digits like tisa follows a base-10 structure rather than the base-20 systems found in some related indigenous African languages.
- The word tisa is a loanword from the Arabic word tisʕa.
Examples in context
- Tisa ukiondoa sita, jibu lake ni nini?How many is nine minus six?Tatoeba #10830864 by ecorralest101, translation #519105 by blay_paul
- Duka hili hufunga saa tisa kila usiku.This store closes at nine o'clock every night.Tatoeba #10852999 by ecorralest101, translation #2688161 by Joseph
- Saa tisa jioni, tulitembelea Anne Frank House.At nine in the evening, we visited the Anne Frank House.Tatoeba #10893739 by ecorralest101, translation #7242686 by RoyalBee
- moja, mbili, tatu, nne, tano, sita, saba, nane, tisa, kumiOne, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten
- 9 more sentences on Tatoeba
Example conversation
Juma and Zuwena are counting pieces of fruit in a basket.
- JumaTuna matunda mangapi hapa?How many fruits do we have here?
- ZuwenaTuna matunda tisa, Juma.We have nine fruits, Juma.
- JumaJe, unataka kula moja?Do you want to eat one?
- ZuwenaHapana, tuyaache yote tisa.No, let's leave all nine.
Sources
- Wiktionary, “nine” translations and entries tisa, CC BY-SA 4.0, dump of 2026-09-26.
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries tisa, CC BY-SA 4.0.
- Example sentences: Tatoeba CC BY 2.0 FR.
