{"id":24720,"date":"2026-08-21T19:54:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T19:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24720"},"modified":"2026-08-21T19:58:25","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T19:58:25","slug":"numbering-houses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/?p=24720","title":{"rendered":"Numbering Houses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>When is a <strong>number<\/strong> not a <strong>number<\/strong>? Let&#8217;s find out.<\/p>\n<p><a data-flickr-embed=\"true\" href=\"https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/maximbroos\/6260550111\/in\/photolist-axdXra-NWgZ9n-kLVtux-kLWpD2-kLXJqu-kLXU8L-kLWibH-kLXHQS-2pSbcBu-kLTMmX-kLSHxZ-kLTtmt-kLUThU-kLSGNH-Zu9hyr-kLU5R6-nVyUks-2rwtmMU-2r3Cd2G-bfhPzR-bfhR1M-bfhQM2-bfhQwR-bfhRet-bfhRvK-bfhP7Z-bfhQka-bfhSHF-bfhTd2-bfhRZi-bfhTue-bfhSYe-bfhPRD-bfhRHc-bfhPor-bfhSt2-bfhSev-bfhKon-bfhM4v-bfhKzM-bfhLMP-bfhQ6T-bfhNT2-bfhMWk-bfhLh6-bfhMD6-bfhND4-bfhKPV-bfhL4H-bfhLw8\" title=\"Nyumba\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/6174\/6260550111_ef19fb0a56_z.jpg\" width=\"640\" height=\"427\" alt=\"Nyumba\"\/><\/a><script async src=\"\/\/embedr.flickr.com\/assets\/client-code.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>The Swahili word <strong>nymba<\/strong> [\u02c8\u0272u.\u1d50b\u0251] looks and sounds a bit like the English word <strong>number<\/strong>, but actually means house.<\/p>\n<p>It comes from Proto-Bantu <em>*nj\u028a\u0300mb\u00e1<\/em> (house) and is related to words such as <strong>nyumba<\/strong> (house) in Chichewa, Mwani and Tumbuka, and <strong>enyumba<\/strong> (house) in Kabwa [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/Reconstruction:Proto-Bantu\/nj%CA%8A%CC%80mb%C3%A1\">source<\/a>]. <\/p>\n<p>Swahili words derived from <strong>nyumba<\/strong> include: <strong>nyumbani<\/strong> (home, at home, in the house), <strong>chumba<\/strong> (room) and <strong>kijumba<\/strong> (small house, cottage), which are diminutives of <strong>nyumba<\/strong>, <strong>jumba<\/strong> (mansion, large building),  an augmentative of <strong>nyumba<\/strong>, <strong>uchumba<\/strong> (courtship, engagement), <strong>mchumba<\/strong> (lover, fianc\u00e9(e), partner), <strong>nyumba ya uzazi<\/strong> (womb, uterus, lit. &#8220;birth room&#8221;), <strong>nyumba ya dawa<\/strong> (pharmacy, drugstore), and <strong>unyumba<\/strong> (marital relations, married life) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/nyumba#Swahili\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p>The word <strong>namba<\/strong> also exists in Swahili, means <strong>number<\/strong>, and was borrowed from English. It is a form of <strong>nambari<\/strong> (number), and appears in expressions such as <strong>namba hasi<\/strong> (negative number), <strong>sio na namba<\/strong> (numberless), and <strong>nambari ya simu<\/strong> (phone number) [<a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/nambari#Swahili\">source<\/a>].<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<!-- Blog horizontal --><br \/>\n<ins class=\"adsbygoogle\"\n     style=\"display:block\"\n     data-ad-client=\"ca-pub-5001128073855040\"\n     data-ad-slot=\"1685480124\"\n     data-ad-format=\"auto\"\n     data-full-width-responsive=\"true\"><\/ins><br \/>\n<script>\n     (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});\n<\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When is a number not a number? Let&#8217;s find out. The Swahili word nymba [\u02c8\u0272u.\u1d50b\u0251] looks and sounds a bit like the English word number, but actually means house. It comes from Proto-Bantu *nj\u028a\u0300mb\u00e1 (house) and is related to words such as nyumba (house) in Chichewa, Mwani and Tumbuka, and enyumba (house) in Kabwa [source]. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[180,104,682,10,447,66,681,78],"tags":[164,158,451,138,683,684,454,281,448,163],"class_list":["post-24720","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chichewa","category-english","category-kabwa-ekikabwa","category-language","category-proto-bantu","category-swahili","category-tumbuka-chitumbuka","category-words-and-phrases","tag-english","tag-etymology","tag-house","tag-language","tag-namba","tag-number","tag-nyumba","tag-omniglot","tag-swahili","tag-words"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24720","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24720"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24720\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24724,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24720\/revisions\/24724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24720"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24720"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.omniglot.com\/bloggle\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24720"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}