Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

terra preta

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.69 in modern English

Syllables: ter-ra pre-ta
IPA

12

Scrabble Score

10

Letters

3

Syllables

5

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A very dark, man-made, nutritionally dense soil found in the Amazon basin.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"2004, The Review of Archæology, Volumes 25-27, Review of Archæology, page 35, The two earliest phases are preceramic and the sites are not terra preta. The earliest terra preta is associated with the Massangana Phase, which begins ca 3600 cal BC."
"Terra Preta soils of central Amazonia exhibit approximately three times more soil organic matter, nitrogen and phosphorus and 70 times more charcoal compared to adjacent infertile soils."
"2008, Science, Volume 321, Issues 5892-5897, American Association for the Advancement of Science, page 1152, Terra preta is believed to have been an essential part of a distinctive agricultural system. According to the terra preta team, Indians slowly cleared off the forest to create farm plots and planted annual crops such as manioc […] ."

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese terra preta, from terra (“soil”) + preta (“black”).

Origin

Source language: Portuguese

Word Breakdown

Root: terra preta

Usage

Uncountable

Derived Forms

STP

Phrases

synthetic terra preta black earth dark earth

Frequently Paired Words

black earth chernozem dark earth

Synonyms

Amazonian dark earth ADE Indian black earth

Questions

What does terra preta mean?: A very dark, man-made, nutritionally dense soil found in the Amazon basin.
Where does terra preta come from?: It is traced to Portuguese.

How to pronounce terra preta

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