Etymology

carib

C3A1R1I1B3

Today it means: A member of one of a number of Amerindian peoples who inhabit the coast of Central and South America and the Lesser Antilles. Full definition →

Spanish Caribe ← Cariban ← Proto-Cariban *karipona
Ask AI about its historyChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

The story

  1. Proto-Cariban · derived from*karipona“person”
  2. Cariban · derived from
  3. Spanish · borrowed fromCaribe
  4. English todayCarib

Borrowed from Spanish Caribe, likely from a Kalinago term corresponding to karifuna (“Kalinago person”) in modern Kalinago, a borrowing from a Cariban language, ultimately from Proto-Cariban *karipona (“person”). Compare Kari'na karìna (“Carib person”). Doublet of cannibal, caribe, Carijona, Galibi, Garifuna, and Kari'na.

Words from the same roots

SpanishCaribe all →

caribeGalibi

Proto-Cariban*karipona all →

cannibalGarifunaCarijonaKari'na

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.