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Lomwe
Western Makhuwa
Elomwe
Native to	Malawi, Mozambique
Ethnicity	Lomwe
Native speakers	2,520,000 (2017)[1]
Language family	Niger–Congo? Atlantic–Congo Volta-Congo Benue–Congo Bantoid Southern Bantoid Bantu Makua Lomwe
Dialects	Lomwe Ngulu (Mihavane)
Official status
Recognised minority language in	Malawi
Language codes
ISO 639-3	ngl
Glottolog	lomw1241
Guthrie code	P.32–33[2]

The Lomwe (Lowe) language, Elomwe, also known as Western Makua, is a Bantu language of Mozambique. It belongs with Makua in the group of distinctive Bantu languages in the northern part of the country.^[3]

Apart from the regional variations found within the Makhuwa proper, the Lomwe uses ch where tt appears in the Makhuwa orthography: for instance the Makhuwa mirette ("remedy") corresponds to the Lomwe mirecce, the Makhuwa murrutthu ("dead body") to the Lomwe miruchu, the Makhuwa otthapa ("joy") to the Lomwe ochapa.

Unusual among Bantu languages is the infinitive of the verb with o- instead of the typically Bantu ku- prefix: omala (eMakhuwa) is "to finish", omeeela (also an eMakhuwa form) is "to share out".^[3]

A mutually unintelligible form containing elements of Malawian Lomwe, is spoken in Malawi. Maho (2009) separates out Ngulu (Mihavane) as a separate language, close to Malawi Lomwe.^[2]

Lewis Mataka Bandawe worked on a translation of the New Testament into the Lomwe language with E.D. Bowman. Bandawe led the Mihecani Mission until 1928 and during that time the four gospels and Acts were published in Lomwe.^[4]

• Lomwe Dictionary

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