matatu

名词 n.
/məˈtætuː/    /məˈtɑˌtu/

英文释义

名词 n.
  1. A minivan used as a shared taxi, especially one operating without a licence. Kenya,Uganda
    — A matatu is also more profitable when driven by its owner than by an employed driver, or if the employee-driver pays in all the earnings and the owner meets the operating costs, rather than when the owner demands a fixed sum of money daily, with the operator keeping the surplus.

词形变化

matatus plural matatu plural

词源

Etymology tree
Proto-Bantu *mà-
Proto-Sabaki *ma-
Swahili ma-
Proto-Bantu *-tátʊ̀
Swahili -tatu
Swahili matatubor.
English matatu
From Swahili matatu, a clipping of mapeni matatu (“thirty cents”, literally “three ten-cent coins”), the flat fare paid for such transportation in the 1960s. The word matatu is from ma- (prefix forming plurals) + -tatu (“three”) (from Proto-Bantu *-tátʊ̀ (“three”)).
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