macumba
"macumba" is a 7-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“macumba” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 7
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A type of Afro-Brazilian folk religion combining elements of Roman Catholicism with traditional African religious beliefs and practices; or a specific cult or ceremony of such religion.
Corpus desk
Index EN-macumba · macumba · English
macumba · unranked · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-UNRANKED Unranked
- LEN-LONG 7 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-THIN "M" thin
- PHOTO-UNK Peer pending
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | macumba |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| Letters | 7 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Long-tail rank of “macumba” in English
Rare enough to double-check
macumba is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A type of Afro-Brazilian folk religion combining elements of Roman Catholicism with traditional African religious beliefs and practices; or a specific cult or ceremony of such religion.".
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for macumba, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. No close-neighbour confusable shows up for this headword in our dataset, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Portuguese macumba (“macumba; curse”), derived from Kimbundu makôba (or a related Bantu language of western Central Africa). The correct English form is macumba, spelled M-A-C-U-M-B-A.
Definition
- 1A type of Afro-Brazilian folk religion combining elements of Roman Catholicism with traditional African religious beliefs and practices; or a specific cult or ceremony of such religion.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how macumba appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
And later on at the Gantóis macumba, Omolu, bedecked in red, had said that the day of vengeance for the poor would not be long in coming.
Etymology
Borrowed from Portuguese macumba (“macumba; curse”), derived from Kimbundu makôba (or a related Bantu language of western Central Africa).
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.