Word.ws English Dictionary

matatus

matatus is the plural of matatu.

Meaning of matatu

Noun

matatu (plural matatus or matatu)

  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
    Synonyms:
    daladala, mathree

Questions about matatus

What is matatus the plural of?
Matatus is the plural of matatu.

Words near matatus in the dictionary

  1. matasano
  2. matatabi
  3. Matatalaib
  4. Matathia
  5. matatu
  6. matatus
  7. Mataura
  8. Matawan
  9. matawari
  10. Matayoshi
  11. Matayoshis

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: matatus (page history and authors); matatu (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.

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