Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

mambo

/ˈmɑmboʊ/

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.78 in modern English

Syllables: mam-bo
IPA: /ˈmɑmboʊ/

11

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

2

Syllables

4

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A voodoo priestess (in Haiti)

Countable; Uncountable

noun

A Latin-American musical genre, adapted from rumba, originating from Cuba in the 1940s, or a dance or rhythm of this genre.

Countable; Uncountable

verb

To perform this dance.

Intransitive verb

Example Sentences

"The mambo next presented a container of water to the cardinal points, then poured libations to the centerpost of the peristyle, the axis along which the spirits were to enter."
"The manbo showed her how to take small handfuls of liquid and spread it on her skin always moving in the upward direction."
"In the 1950s, Ukrainian American filmmaker Maya Deren traveled to Haiti and became initiated as a manbo (priestess) in Haitian Vodou."

Etymology

From Haitian Creole manbo (“voodoo priestess”) (ultimately from Yoruba mambo (“to talk”)), in later senses via Cuban Spanish mambo (“dance”).

Origin

Source language: Spanish

Word Breakdown

Root: manbo, mambo

Regional Pronunciation

American English: /ˈmɑmboʊ/
British English: /ˈmæmbəʊ/

Usage

Subject

Wiktionary places this term in Music.

Inflected Forms

mambos (plural) mamboes (plural) manbo (alternative) mambos (present, singular) mamboing (participle, present) mamboed (participle, past) mamboed (past)

Phrases

horizontal mambo mambo sauce

Rhymes With

pombo palombo rambo lambo ambo gambo crambo

Questions

How do you pronounce mambo?: The recorded pronunciation is /ˈmɑmboʊ/.
What does mambo mean?: A voodoo priestess (in Haiti)
Where does mambo come from?: It is traced to Spanish.

How to pronounce mambo

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “mambo”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ˈmɑmboʊ/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “mambo”.
Repeat and practice — Say “mambo” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.