marabout
/ˈmaɹəbuːt/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.60 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
1
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A Muslim holy man or mystic, especially in parts of North Africa.
Example Sentences
- "one of their principal targets was the marabouts – or holy men and leaders of mystic orders – whom they accused both of corrupting the faith by their espousal of mysticism and of being the ‘domestic animals of colonialism’."
- "Climbing one on his second day lost, Prosperi spotted a disturbance to the view. “I was convinced it was somebody’s home or a holy man’s shrine.” But the shrine, or marabout, was empty. The only holy man was in a sarcophagus."
- "Wherever she went she had, if not the finest, at any rate the most showy gown in the room; her ornaments were the biggest; her hats, toques, berets, marabouts, and other fallals, always the most conspicuous."
Etymology
From French marabout, from Portuguese maraboto, marabuto, from Moroccan Arabic مْرَابِط (mrabeṭ) (standard Arabic مُرَابِط (murābiṭ, “soldier stationed in fortified outpost”)).
Origin
- Source language: French
Word Breakdown
- Root: marabout, maraboto, مْرَابِط, ر ب ط
Regional Pronunciation
- British English: /ˈmaɹəbuːt/
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Places.