 The "ki-/vi-" class historically consisted of two separate genders, artefacts (Bantu class 7/8, utensils and hand tools mostly) and diminutives (Bantu class 12/13), which were conflated at a stage ancestral to Swahili.Examples of the former are "kisu" "knife", "kiti" "chair" (from "mti" "tree, wood"), "chombo" "vessel" (a contraction of "ki-ombo").Examples of the latter are "kitoto" "infant", from "mtoto" "child"; "kitawi" "frond", from "tawi" "branch"; and "chumba" ("ki-umba") "room", from "nyumba" "house".