Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

maafa

Word Rarity Very rare

Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English

Syllables: maafa
IPA

10

Scrabble Score

5

Letters

1

Syllables

3

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

The history of slavery and anti-black racism and discrimination in the United States; the historical enslavement of Africans and associated atrocities, under the interpretation of these as a genocide against them.

Uncountable

Example Sentences

"The Maafa concept explains the conditions of disorganization, disunity, self-hatred, and alienation affecting African people to varying degrees."

Etymology

Etymology tree Arabic آفَة (ʔāfa)bor. Swahili afa Swahili maafabor. English Maafa From Swahili maafa (“disaster, catastrophe”). Coined in 1994 by Marimba Ani (in Let the Circle Be Unbroken: The Implications of African Spirituality in the Diaspora) on the model of the Hebrew-derived designation Shoah of the Jewish Holocaust.

Origin

Source language: Swahili

Word Breakdown

Root: maafa

Usage

Uncountable

Questions

What does maafa mean?: The history of slavery and anti-black racism and discrimination in the United States; the historical enslavement of Africans and associated atrocities, under the interpretation of these as a genocide against them.
Where does maafa come from?: It is traced to Swahili.

How to pronounce maafa

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