bila doa
The English word "spotless" is translated into Swahili as bila doa.
bila doa is used as an adjective to describe something that is exceptionally clean.
Meaning: exceptionally clean (adj)
What does it mean word for word?
The phrase is composed of bila meaning "without" and doa meaning "stain" or "spot".
How does it change in a sentence?
As an adverbial phrase used as an adjective, bila doa does not change its form to agree with nouns in gender or number.
Did you know?
- In some contexts, describing a person as bila doa can be seen as an extreme superlative, implying an impossible level of perfection that is almost divine.
- The word bila in bila doa is an Arabic loanword, showing how Swahili has integrated many grammatical particles from the Middle East.
- While bila doa describes physical cleanliness, it is frequently used as a metaphor for a person's reputation or character to mean 'blameless' or 'pure'.
Examples in context
- Uliosha gari hili vizuri kabisa, limekuwa safi kabisa!You washed this car really well, it has become spotless!
- Gari lake ni bila doa.His car is spotless.
- Sifa yake ni bila doa.His reputation is spotless.
Example conversation
Juma and Neema are cleaning their living room together.
- JumaTumeimaliza kusafisha sebule yetu.We have finished cleaning our living room.
- NeemaKweli, sasa sebule iko bila doa.True, now the living room is spotless.
- JumaUmekazi nzuri sana, Neema.You have done a great job, Neema.
- NeemaAsante, Juma, na wewe pia.Thanks, Juma, you too.
Sources
- Word origins: Wiktionary entries bila, CC BY-SA 4.0.
