Symbols
54Click a symbol to copy it and open its page.
Kinyamwezi alphabet
One row per letter, in alphabetical order: the Swahili-style Latin alphabet with no q and no x, and no accents. Sounds such as ch, sh, ny and ng’ are written as letter pairs.
Quotation marks and the apostrophe
Tanzanian print follows English punctuation: double curly quotes, single quotes inside them, and ’ as the apostrophe of ng’.
Where it's spoken
Tanzania, mainly Tabora Region. 🌙 for mwezi, the moon of the name. The shilling has no sign of its own: write TSh or /=.
On the map
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The Nyamwezi alphabet: Latin letters, Swahili spelling
Kinyamwezi has no Unicode alphabet of its own: Unicode's CLDR, the data behind phone and computer keyboards, records how many people speak it but lists no letters. In practice the language is written with the Latin letters every Tanzanian learns at school for Swahili, a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p r s t u v w y z, with q and x left out, as in the Swahili alphabet. The symbol grid above holds those 48 capital and small letters.
What looks unusual in written Kinyamwezi is letter pairs, not accents. As in Swahili, ch, sh and ny each stand for one sound (the ny of Nyamwezi is the sound of Spanish ñ), and Tanzanian spelling writes ng’ with an apostrophe for the ng of singer, keeping it apart from the plain ng of finger. Kinyamwezi is a tonal Bantu language, but everyday writing does not mark tone, so no accents are needed and any keyboard types it.
Kinyamwezi, Wanyamwezi, Unyamwezi: what the names mean
The names follow the Swahili prefixes that also give Kiswahili and Waswahili: Kinyamwezi is the language, Wanyamwezi the people (one person is a Mnyamwezi) and Unyamwezi their homeland. English uses Nyamwezi for the people and language, but calls their homeland Unyamwezi. The name is usually linked to the Swahili word mwezi, moon: coastal traders used Nyamwezi (“people of the moon”) for inland people, a story that is why stands for this page.
Unyamwezi was a land of many chiefdoms, each led by a chief called mtemi, rather than one kingdom. In the 19th century Nyamwezi caravans and porters carried ivory and trade goods between the interior and the Indian Ocean coast, and Tabora grew into the great inland stop of the central caravan route. The best-known Nyamwezi leader of that age is Mirambo, who built a powerful state from Urambo in the 1870s and early 1880s.
How to type Kinyamwezi letters, ng’ and quotes
Every Kinyamwezi letter is on an ordinary English or Swahili keyboard, so there is nothing to install. The one character worth knowing is the apostrophe of ng’: the straight ' on the keyboard is fine, and the curly ’ is what print uses. On Windows hold Alt and type 0146 on the number pad for ’, 0145 for ‘, 0147 for “ and 0148 for ”; on a Mac press OptionShift] for ’, Option] for ‘, Option[ for “ and OptionShift[ for ”. Phones turn straight quotes into curly ones by themselves, or long-press the quote key. In HTML the curly apostrophe is ’.
Prices are written in Tanzanian shillings, which have no Unicode sign of their own: people write TSh before the amount, the code TZS, or the local style with / after it, as in 1,000/.
Where the Nyamwezi language is spoken
Kinyamwezi is spoken in west-central Tanzania, above all in Tabora Region, the old Unyamwezi, around Tabora town, Urambo, Nzega, Igunga and Sikonge. CLDR estimates roughly 2.2 million speakers, all counted in Tanzania. Most of them also speak Swahili, the national language, and Wanyamwezi have long lived in Dar es Salaam and other towns.
Kinyamwezi belongs to the Sukuma–Nyamwezi group of Bantu languages (Guthrie's F.20; Nyamwezi is F.22). Its closest relative is Sukuma, spoken by Tanzania's largest people to the north around Mwanza and Shinyanga; the two are so close that they are often described as one dialect continuum, and the Sukuma collection sits beside this one. Swahili and Tanzania have their own collections too, for the full set of the country's emoji, its flag and the shilling.
How to use them
4 situationsClick to copyNyamwezi (Kinyamwezi) Alphabet combos
8Worth knowing
- The name Nyamwezi is usually linked to mwezi, the Swahili word for moon: coastal traders used it for “people of the moon,” referring to people who came from the west.
- In the 19th century Nyamwezi porters were famous across East Africa for carrying caravan loads hundreds of kilometres to the coast, and Tabora in Unyamwezi was the great inland stop on the route.
- Unicode's CLDR counts roughly 2.2 million Nyamwezi speakers but has no letter list for the language: it is simply written with the Swahili alphabet's letters.
Questions people ask
6What is the Nyamwezi language?
Nyamwezi, or Kinyamwezi, is the Bantu language of the Wanyamwezi of west-central Tanzania, centred on Tabora Region. Its ISO code is nym and Unicode's CLDR estimates roughly 2.2 million speakers.
What is the Nyamwezi alphabet?
Kinyamwezi is written in Latin letters with Swahili-style spelling: a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p r s t u v w y z, no q or x, letter pairs such as ch, sh and ny, and ng’ with an apostrophe. There are no accented letters.
Does Kinyamwezi use accents?
No. The language has tones, but everyday spelling does not mark them, so it is written with plain letters on any keyboard.
What does Kinyamwezi mean?
Kinyamwezi is the Swahili-style name of the language: ki- marks a language, as in Kiswahili. Wanyamwezi are the people, Mnyamwezi one person and Unyamwezi their land. The stem is usually explained through mwezi, moon.
Where is the Nyamwezi tribe in Tanzania?
Mainly in Tabora Region in west-central Tanzania, around Tabora, Urambo, Nzega, Igunga and Sikonge, with many Wanyamwezi also living in Dar es Salaam and other towns.
Is Nyamwezi the same as Sukuma?
No, but they are very close: Sukuma and Nyamwezi form one group of Bantu languages, and speakers understand each other to a large degree. Sukuma is spoken to the north, around Mwanza and Shinyanga.
