roma
/ˈɹoʊmə/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.71 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
2
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A variety of the Romani language (or occasionally) the Romani macrolanguage.
adj
Romani: of or pertaining to the Romani people.
Example Sentences
- "My genes would best be described as a melting pot – my mother is part Bulgarian Roma, part Romanichal (English Romany), and my dad is part Romanichal, part Irish Traveller – thus, it was hardly surprising when I was born a blue-eyed milk bottle."
- "O Roma, Roma, at thy feet / I lay this barren gift of song! / For, ah! the way is steep and long / That leads unto thy sacred street."
- "But it would have been so nice to have a private income, and to be able sometimes to go to Venezia, Firenze, Roma, those places with the beautiful names."
- "At Neapolis there was chaos as those who could flee Roma came to this port seeking escape."
- "Swap the vegetables for roma tomatoes (seeded), steamed new potatoes, carrots, and chickpeas (rinsed and drained); add a pinch of curry to the vinaigrette."
Etymology
Borrowed from Romani roma, plural of rom (“man, husband, Romani man”). The latter probably comes from Sanskrit डोम्ब (ḍomba, “lower-caste person working as a wandering musician”), from Sanskrit डमरु (ḍamaru, “drum”), which may have been borrowed from a Dravidian language. Folk etymology pointed to a legend that the ethnic group were an exiled people from Roman Imperial times. The other major categories of words for the Roma are cognates of Gypsy (words related to Egypt) and cognates of tzigane (words derived from Greek); see those entries for more information.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: डोम्ब, डमरु, -, Roma
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɹoʊmə/
- British English: /ˈɹəʊmə/
Inflected Forms
Rroma (alternative)
Romas (plural)