"Ninaandika barua pepe"

Translation: I am writing an e-mail

[vtopphol]

Barua I know means letter, but what is pepe?

[Michael633900]

Pepe by itself means wind. Barua pepe means e-mail.

[vtopphol]

Ah! So it literally means "wind-mail". That's nice.

[Michael633900]

Sorry, messed up that comment. The word for wind is actually upepo. But yea, I was told it was derived from that.

[vtopphol]

No worries. It's still a nice way of understanding it.
Googled it and found that "pepo" means both the plural of wind and also demon or spirit. Spirit mail? :P

[AGreatUserName]

e?

I'll show myself out ...

[vtopphol]

I don't get it.

[dpeach1]

I understand and it was funny.

[Hannah193002]

Kipepeo means butterfly. That helped me to remember it.

[pablopublico]

-andika comes from -andaa (“to ready, set, prepare”) +‎ -ika (“stative affix”). Literally, for a pen to be set to paper.

[SimonandNe]

I have learned this/seen it in Swahili books before, but I've never actually heard it used, and I tried it one time and got a funny look. Maybe I'm in an area with too much influence, but people here just say "e-mail."