melanesian
/mˌɛlənˈiʒən/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.25 in modern English
12
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
7
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A Melanesian person.
Example Sentences
- "While Melanesian cannibals make "long pig," barbecuing enemies, legal and political cannibals in San Francisco put a beautiful wealthy woman, Penny Penny Hill, on trial for murder […]"
- "Blackbirding was the euphemism given to the slave-trading that occurred in the Pacific from the mid-1800s through to the early-1900s. According to one study, blackbirding, [as] “the practice of luring Melanesians and Polynesians to toil for next to nothing was called”, involved upwards of 60,000 people between 1863 and 1904 (Horne, 2007, p. 2)."
Etymology
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *melh₂-der. Proto-Indo-European *mélh₂ns Proto-Hellenic *mélans Ancient Greek μέλας (mélas)lbor. Ancient Greek νῆσος (nêsos)lbor. Proto-Indo-European *-(i)yós Proto-Italic *-ijos Proto-Italic *-ios Old Latin -ios Latin -ius Latin -ia Old French -ie Middle French -ie French -ie French Mélanésiebor. English Melanesia Proto-Indo-European *-nós Proto-Italic *-nos Proto-Italic *-ānos Latin -ānus Old French -ainder. Middle English -an English -an English Melanesian From Melanesia + -an.