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I believe it is the term used to describe a white female.
Correction and explanation: Memsahib is not a Swahili word but one from India. It means "mistress" (the feminine of sahib). The white colonists in East Africa took the Swahili word bwana, Mr. or Sir, to mean "master" and to refer only to themselves. Not finding such a word they could use for white women, they imported memsahib from the Raj. Also heard in southern Africa. It was still commonly used for white women in the early years of independence but is almost never heard today.
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∙ 11y ago
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What does the African word sabu mean?
The term "Msabu" is a Kikuyu rendering of "Memsahib"--an Indian and Swahili address form for "Mistress."It should be noted that the word was adopted by the British who required that Africans use it as a word of respect when addressing white women, a respect that they did not reciprocate by using it to African women.
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Serikali
