matatu
nounUK /məˈtætuː/ · US /məˈtɑˌtu/
Etymology From Swahili matatu, a clipping of mapeni matatu (“thirty cents”, literally “three ten-cent coins”), the flat fare paid for such transportation in the 1960s. The word matatu is from ma- (prefix forming plurals) + -tatu (“three”) (from Proto-Bantu *-tátʊ̀ (“three”)).
1
Kenya, Uganda A minivan used as a shared taxi, especially one operating without a licence.
- A matatu is also more profitable when driven by its owner than by an employed driver, or if the employee-driver pays in all the earnings and the owner meets the operating costs, rather than when the owner demands a fixed sum of money daily, with the operator keeping the surplus.1982, United Nations Centre for Human Settlements Habitat News:
- For now, matatus made lanes along both sides of tarmac main roads and went over, around or through potholes depending on their speed.2010, Philo Ikonya, Leading the Night, page 102:
2 more examples
- Memories of their sense of trepidation, or even the anger, aboard a matatu could still be visceral.2017, Kenda Mutongi, Matatu: A History of Popular Transportation in Nairobi, page 98:
- The roads were jammed with matatu minibuses sporting cartoonish liveries, and trucks billowing black smoke into the dazzling African light.2024 January 13, David Pilling, “Revenge of the moderators”, in FT Weekend (Life & Arts section), London: The Financial Times Ltd., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 15:
- Derived terms
- matatu culture
- Hypernyms
- shared taxi, gypsy cab