bandeirante

B3A1N1D2E1I1R1A1N1T1E1

noun

adventurers and slavers from São Paulo, who were responsible for exploring much of early colonial Brazil.

Scrabble 14

Meanings

nounbandeirante (plural bandeirantes)

plural bandeirantes

  1. historicaladventurers and slavers from São Paulo, who were responsible for exploring much of early colonial Brazil.

    Its tough and cruel settler bandeirantes were the first Europeans to penetrate Brazil's interior on their long slaving forays against the índios.

    2003, Peter Robb, A Death in Brazil, Bloomsbury, published 2005, page 14
    1 more example

    On Friday afternoon, Santos and a few dozen other activists will set off from the Praça Panamericana in western São Paulo on a 1,000km (621-mile) walk to Brasília, the Brazilian capital, following one of the routes of the bandeirantes.

    2015 April 24, Bruce Douglas, “Brazil activists to walk 600 miles for 'free markets, lower taxes and privatisation'”, in The Guardian
  2. person who was born in the State of São Paulo, which is known as Bandeirante State

Origin

  1. Portuguesebandeirante
  2. Englishbandeirante

From Portuguese bandeirante, from bandeira (“flag”).

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

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

MLA

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

Chicago

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

Source: bandeirante on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.