macumba

\ma.kum.ba\

/\ma.kum.ba\/ noun

The verdict

“macumba” is uncommon French (frequency #95,025 among 5,038 “M” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#95,025
frequency rank, French
5,038
“M” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ensemble de rites syncrétiques cultuels afro-brésiliens, mêlant catholicisme, dulie, transe, possession, etc.

Corpus desk

Index FR-macumba · macumba · French

macumba · rank #95,025 · 0 variants · 0 confusables

  • FREQ-RARE #95,025
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-0 No pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 5,038
  • PHOTO-FINISH macronien

Nearest frequency peer: macronien (-1 rank slots)

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.

Rangs de longue queue près de « macumba »

Bande clairsemée: les barres inversent le rang pour que le rare se lise plus court

corpus weight

What this shows Vue de longue queue: où « macumba » se situe face à des rangs français aussi rares.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026
Key facts for macumba
PropertyValue
Headwordmacumba
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ma.kum.ba\
Letters7
Frequency rank#95,025
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Longue queue: rang de « macumba » en français

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).macumbatombe dans cette queue de rareté:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Voisins rares de la même bande: « macronien » (#95,024), « mahjong » (#95,026), « Maiduguri » (#95,027). Parmi 5,038 lemmes en « M », « macumba » est au #95,025. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

macumba is uncommon French at frequency #95,025 among 5,038 “M” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed \ma.kum.ba\. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 2 senses are on record.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for macumba, a sign its spelling follows regular French conventions. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so any spelling logic here comes from how the word's sounds map to letters, not a documented origin story. The correct French form is macumba, spelled M-A-C-U-M-B-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ensemble de rites syncrétiques cultuels afro-brésiliens, mêlant catholicisme, dulie, transe, possession, etc.
  2. 2
    (France) Nom de discothèque

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how macumba appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Candomblé à Bahia, umbanda ou macumba à Rio (le même rite, mais mêlé de spiritisme), pentecôtisme un peu partout : l’extension des religions « parallèles » a suivi le déclin de l’Église.
  2. La "Vénus noire" se voit offrir des terres, qu’elle refuse, assiste à un rituel de macumba - le culte traditionnel afro-brésilien - et, déjà grand cœur, fait la manche parmi les clients d’un restaurant à la mode avant de donner l’argent recueilli à une miséreuse sur le trottoir.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "macumba"?
"macumba" is spelled M-A-C-U-M-B-A. The IPA pronunciation is \ma.kum.ba\.
What does "macumba" mean?
As a noun, "macumba" means: Ensemble de rites syncrétiques cultuels afro-brésiliens, mêlant catholicisme, dulie, transe, possession, etc.
How do you pronounce "macumba"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "macumba" is \ma.kum.ba\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "macumba" come from?
"macumba" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "macumba", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list