"Wanawake na wanaume"

Translation: Women and men

[vtopphol]

"Ladies and gentlemen" worked fine here, but what is the common phrase in Swahili for saying this?

[jmuhammad]

"Mwanamke" is woman and "wanawake" is women. Is there a rule as to why "mke" is changed to "wake" in the plural?

[Ivoryblossum]

There's a good explanation on one of the other discussions about this. mwanamke is a compound word, mwana+mke, human + female. So when the prefix is changed to plural, it's changed in both words within the compound word, wana+wake.

[vtopphol]

I think it's irregular, but 'mke' on its own means wife, and 'wake' is the plural form.

[mogodi1]

Kuamka is a verb meaning 'to wake up'. How did it turn into a woman? The real beauty of words is in etymology!