Word.ws English Dictionary

fundi

/ˈfʊndiː/

fundi noun: a master of a particular skill; an expert. Also the plural of fundus.

Noun (1)

fundi (plural fundis)

  1. (South Africa, Zimbabwe) A master of a particular skill; an expert.
    • Alas I our small office staff boasted no bird fundi and the bird remained unindentified.1972, The Rhodesia Science News, volume 6, page 358

Noun (2)

fundi (plural fundis)

  1. (Africa, East) A person who repairs and maintains things; mechanic, repairer.
    • The air compressor sends off quite a large blast of air, sending dust skyward, as the air drilling begins. The driller's compressor remains in the backyard in Morogoro town, as the fundi mechanic works to put it back together again.2018 May 18, Bob Nicol, My Name Is Deliverer, LifeRich Publishing, →ISBN
    • I am sure, dear reader that if you live in Africa the fundi is an integral part of your daily existence. For you who is a non-Swahili speaker, a fundi is anybody who does repair works and includes a mechanic, tailor, bicycle repair man,[…]2021 March 21, Didi Wamukoya, Wooden Glass: Tales From the City Volume 1, Didi Wamukoya, →ISBN, page 11

Noun (3)

IPA/ˈfʌndiː/

fundi (uncountable)

  1. The African cereal plant Digitaria exilis.

Also used as

fundi is also the plural of fundus.

Forms of fundi

pluralfundis
alternative formfundungi

Origin of fundi

From a Nguni language; compare Zulu umfundisi (“teacher”). Ultimately from Proto-Bantu *-túnda.

From Swahili fundi. Ultimately from Proto-Bantu *-túnda.

Questions about fundi

What does fundi mean?
Fundi means a master of a particular skill; an expert.
What part of speech is fundi?
Fundi is a noun.
How do you pronounce fundi?
Fundi is pronounced /ˈfʊndiː/.
What is the plural of fundi?
The plural of fundi is fundis.

Words near fundi in the dictionary

  1. funders
  2. fundholder
  3. fundholders
  4. fundholding
  5. fundholdings
  6. fundi
  7. fundic
  8. fundido
  9. fundie
  10. fundies
  11. fundiform

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fundi (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “fundi.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fundi. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.