See -isha on Wiktionary
{
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "sw"
},
"expansion": "Uncertain",
"name": "unc"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ny",
"2": "-itsa"
},
"expansion": "Chichewa -itsa",
"name": "ncog"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "yao",
"2": "-isya"
},
"expansion": "Yao (Africa) -isya",
"name": "ncog"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "rw",
"2": "-īsha"
},
"expansion": "Rwanda-Rundi -īsha",
"name": "ncog"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Uncertain. Nurse & Hinnebusch mention that correspondences of this suffix within the Sabaki languages are not regular. This implies it was a local innovation, and similar suffixes in other Bantu languages (Chichewa -itsa/-etsa, Yao (Africa) -isya/-esya, Rwanda-Rundi -īsha/-ēsha) are not cognate, but may be parallel developments.\nStill according to Nurse & Hunnebusch, this suffix originated from a causative (with -ya) of the stative (-ik-/-ek-), with spirantization of the -k- to -sh-.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "-lisha/-lesha",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "sw",
"2": "suffix",
"3": "mid vowel harmony variant",
"4": "-esha"
},
"expansion": "-isha (mid vowel harmony variant -esha)",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "Swahili",
"lang_code": "sw",
"pos": "suffix",
"senses": [
{
"categories": [
{
"_dis": "48 24 29",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages using catfix",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "48 24 29",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "81 9 9",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "55 23 23",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Swahili entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"derived": [
{
"_dis1": "63 17 19",
"word": "Swahili causative verbs"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "Near-synonyms: -ya, -iza/-eza"
},
{
"text": "-la (“to eat”) + -isha → -lisha (“to feed”)",
"type": "example"
},
{
"text": "-weza (“to be able”) + -esha → -wezesha (“to enable”)",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"causative suffix",
"to cause to, to make"
],
"id": "en--isha-sw-suffix-qXs1hjkz",
"links": [
[
"causative suffix",
"Appendix:Swahili verbal derivation#Causative"
],
[
"cause",
"cause"
],
[
"make",
"make"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"causative suffix",
"(added to a verb) to cause to, to make"
],
"raw_tags": [
"added to a verb"
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "-ya"
},
{
"word": "-iza/-eza"
}
],
"tags": [
"morpheme"
]
},
{
"examples": [
{
"text": "imara (“strong”) + -isha → -imarisha (“to strengthen”)",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"causative suffix",
"to cause to become, to make"
],
"id": "en--isha-sw-suffix-9oM2UOAu",
"links": [
[
"causative suffix",
"Appendix:Swahili verbal derivation#Causative"
],
[
"cause",
"cause"
],
[
"make",
"make"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"causative suffix",
"(added to an adjective) to cause to become, to make"
],
"raw_tags": [
"added to an adjective"
],
"tags": [
"morpheme"
]
},
{
"examples": [
{
"text": "sababu (“cause”) + -isha → -sababisha (“to cause”)",
"type": "example"
},
{
"text": "orodha (“list”) + -esha → -orodhesha (“to list”)",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"causative suffix",
"to give a characteristic of, to turn into"
],
"id": "en--isha-sw-suffix-x8AB~Ec~",
"links": [
[
"causative suffix",
"Appendix:Swahili verbal derivation#Causative"
],
[
"give",
"give"
],
[
"turn",
"turn"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"causative suffix",
"(added to a noun) to give a characteristic of, to turn into"
],
"raw_tags": [
"added to a noun"
],
"tags": [
"morpheme"
]
}
],
"word": "-isha"
}
{
"categories": [
"Pages using catfix",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries",
"Swahili entries with incorrect language header",
"Swahili lemmas",
"Swahili suffixes",
"Swahili terms with unknown etymologies"
],
"derived": [
{
"word": "Swahili causative verbs"
}
],
"etymology_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "sw"
},
"expansion": "Uncertain",
"name": "unc"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "ny",
"2": "-itsa"
},
"expansion": "Chichewa -itsa",
"name": "ncog"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "yao",
"2": "-isya"
},
"expansion": "Yao (Africa) -isya",
"name": "ncog"
},
{
"args": {
"1": "rw",
"2": "-īsha"
},
"expansion": "Rwanda-Rundi -īsha",
"name": "ncog"
}
],
"etymology_text": "Uncertain. Nurse & Hinnebusch mention that correspondences of this suffix within the Sabaki languages are not regular. This implies it was a local innovation, and similar suffixes in other Bantu languages (Chichewa -itsa/-etsa, Yao (Africa) -isya/-esya, Rwanda-Rundi -īsha/-ēsha) are not cognate, but may be parallel developments.\nStill according to Nurse & Hunnebusch, this suffix originated from a causative (with -ya) of the stative (-ik-/-ek-), with spirantization of the -k- to -sh-.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "-lisha/-lesha",
"tags": [
"alternative"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "sw",
"2": "suffix",
"3": "mid vowel harmony variant",
"4": "-esha"
},
"expansion": "-isha (mid vowel harmony variant -esha)",
"name": "head"
}
],
"lang": "Swahili",
"lang_code": "sw",
"pos": "suffix",
"senses": [
{
"examples": [
{
"text": "Near-synonyms: -ya, -iza/-eza"
},
{
"text": "-la (“to eat”) + -isha → -lisha (“to feed”)",
"type": "example"
},
{
"text": "-weza (“to be able”) + -esha → -wezesha (“to enable”)",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"causative suffix",
"to cause to, to make"
],
"links": [
[
"causative suffix",
"Appendix:Swahili verbal derivation#Causative"
],
[
"cause",
"cause"
],
[
"make",
"make"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"causative suffix",
"(added to a verb) to cause to, to make"
],
"raw_tags": [
"added to a verb"
],
"synonyms": [
{
"word": "-ya"
},
{
"word": "-iza/-eza"
}
],
"tags": [
"morpheme"
]
},
{
"examples": [
{
"text": "imara (“strong”) + -isha → -imarisha (“to strengthen”)",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"causative suffix",
"to cause to become, to make"
],
"links": [
[
"causative suffix",
"Appendix:Swahili verbal derivation#Causative"
],
[
"cause",
"cause"
],
[
"make",
"make"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"causative suffix",
"(added to an adjective) to cause to become, to make"
],
"raw_tags": [
"added to an adjective"
],
"tags": [
"morpheme"
]
},
{
"examples": [
{
"text": "sababu (“cause”) + -isha → -sababisha (“to cause”)",
"type": "example"
},
{
"text": "orodha (“list”) + -esha → -orodhesha (“to list”)",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"causative suffix",
"to give a characteristic of, to turn into"
],
"links": [
[
"causative suffix",
"Appendix:Swahili verbal derivation#Causative"
],
[
"give",
"give"
],
[
"turn",
"turn"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"causative suffix",
"(added to a noun) to give a characteristic of, to turn into"
],
"raw_tags": [
"added to a noun"
],
"tags": [
"morpheme"
]
}
],
"word": "-isha"
}
Download raw JSONL data for -isha meaning in All languages combined (3.0kB)
{
"called_from": "form_descriptions/1698",
"msg": "unrecognized head form: mid vowel harmony variant -esha",
"path": [
"-isha"
],
"section": "Swahili",
"subsection": "suffix",
"title": "-isha",
"trace": ""
}
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-03-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-03-03 using wiktextract (05c257f and 9d9a410). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.