Etymology

alfaia

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Today it means: A Brazilian drum with a membrane made of animal skin. Full definition →

Portuguese alfaia ← Arabic الحَاجَة
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The story

  1. Arabic · derived fromالحَاجَة“necessary thing; valuable thing”
  2. Portuguese · borrowed fromalfaia
  3. English todayalfaia

From Portuguese alfaia, a borrowing of Arabic الحَاجَة (al-ḥāja, “necessary thing; valuable thing”).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.