bata
bata noun: a ceremonial double-headed drum played in triplet in the religion of santería, especially in Cuba and Puerto Rico, originally from the Yoruba of Nigeria.
Noun
bata (plural bata)
- A ceremonial double-headed drum played in triplet in the religion of santería, especially in Cuba and Puerto Rico, originally from the Yoruba of Nigeria.
- Two guitars, bata, bass drum and tambourine.1990 October 28, Paul Simon, “The Rhythm of the Saints”, in The Coast, Warner Bros.
- Five drummers in front setting the dance—three beating barrel drums, a fourth beating a double-skin bata, and the fifth beating four small bata tied together.2019, Marlon James, Black Leopard, Red Wolf, Hamish Hamilton, page 283
Proper noun (1) capitalized: Bata
Bata (plural Batas)
- A surname.
Proper noun (2) capitalized: Bata
Bata
- city and capital of Litoral, Equatorial Guinea; the largest city in Equatorial Guinea.
- Several days on, residents of Bata are still coming to grips with the full scale of a tragedy that has killed at least 105 people and injured more than 600 others.2021 March 11, Reuters, “Satellite and drone images show extent of damage from Equatorial Guinea blast”, in CNN
Proper noun (3) capitalized: BATA
BATA
- Initialism of Bay Area Toll Authority.
- Now BATA is increasing tolls again saying additional maintenance and repair costs were not factored into the 2018 measure.2025 February 13, Tim Fang, “Bay Area State Sen. Dave Cortese seeks audit of MTC, BATA over bridge toll hikes”, in CBS News
Forms of bata
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | bata |
| alternative form | batá |
| alternative form | bàtá |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Batas |
Origin of bata
From Yoruba bàtá.
Various origins: * Borrowed from Hungarian Bata, a patronymic surname. * Borrowed from Czech Baťa, a nickname for a good-natured man. * Borrowed from Tagalog Bata, a nickname from bata (“child”). * Borrowed from Arabic بَطَّة (baṭṭa, “duck”), probably used as a nickname.
Borrowed from Spanish Bata.
Phrases with bata
Questions about bata
- What does bata mean?
- Bata means a ceremonial double-headed drum played in triplet in the religion of santería, especially in Cuba and Puerto Rico, originally from the Yoruba of Nigeria.
- What part of speech is bata?
- Bata can be a noun or a proper noun.
- What is the plural of bata?
- The plural of bata is bata.
Words near bata in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bata (page history and authors); Bata (page history and authors); BATA (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “bata.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bata. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.