Opa-locka

proper noun

A city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States.

OriginCreek opa-lofa-tisha-loka →
Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

Opa-locka1

proper noun

alternative Opa Locka · alternative Opa-Locka

  1. A city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States.

    "No 'Ifs, Ands or Butts...It's the City Law!'" reads a sign in Opa-locka picturing two Black men. […] On Wednesday, Opa-locka city commission members repealed saggy pants ordinances from 2007 and 2013 in a 4-1 vote, officials said in a statement Thursday.

    2020 September 11, Kelsie Smith, “For 13 years, this city banned saggy pants. Now, officials have voted to repeal the law”, in CNN, archived from the original on 02 Aug 2022

Opa-Locka2

proper noun
  1. alternativeAlternative form of Opa-locka.

Origin

  1. Creekopa-lofa-tisha-loka“big hummock (“swamp hillock”)”
  2. EnglishOpa-locka

From Creek opa-lofa-tisha-loka (“big hummock (“swamp hillock”)”) original placename, coined in the 1920s by civic founder Glenn Curtiss by way of shortening to make it sound vaguely Arabic, and establishing the original architectural style of Moorish revival for the city.

More words from Creek

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Opa-locka. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Opa-locka

MLA

“Opa-locka.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Opa-locka. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Opa-locka,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Opa-locka.

Source: Opa-locka on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.