maracatu

M3A1R1A1C3A1T1U1

noun

A Brazilian performance genre from Pernambuco involving parades and music.

OriginBrazilian Portuguese maracatu →
Scrabble 12
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Meanings

nounmaracatu (uncountable)
  1. uncountableA Brazilian performance genre from Pernambuco involving parades and music.

    Nation Beat, from exotic Brooklyn, uses the maracatu beat and rabeca fiddle of northeastern Brazil, and it has a Brazilian singer, Liliana Araújo.

    2008 January 15, Jon Pareles, “To See (and Hear) the World in Five Hours: Unique Sounds Ripe for Import”, in New York Times

Origin

  1. Brazilian Portuguesemaracatu
  2. Englishmaracatu

Borrowed from Brazilian Portuguese maracatu, from Old Tupi maraká (“rattle, maraca”) + katu (“good”).

More words from Brazilian Portuguese

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

maracatu. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/maracatu

MLA

“maracatu.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/maracatu. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “maracatu,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/maracatu.

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