Word.ws English Dictionary

cacique

/kəˈsiːk/

cacique noun: a tribal chief in the Spanish West Indies.

cacique: a tribal chief in the Spanish West Indies
Image: Lip Kee Yap, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

cacique (plural caciques)

  1. (historical) A tribal chief in the Spanish West Indies.
    • Mexico has loved a strong leader since before Moctezuma. Indigenous tribes were ruled by caciques, or chieftans^([sic]), and in some rural communities caciques are still unchallenged.1993 December 5, Anthony Depalma, “Why Mexico Has Only One Big Hat In the Ring”, in New York Times
    Synonyms:
    chieftain
  2. A local political leader in Latin America, Spain, or the Philippines.
  3. Any of a number of tropical birds from Central America and South America in the genera Cacicus, Cassiculus, and Amblycercus.

Synonyms of cacique

Forms of cacique

pluralcaciques
alternative formcazic
alternative formcazique

Origin of cacique

Borrowed from Spanish cacique, from Taíno *kasike or Lokono kassequa, cazaqah (“chieftain; power”).

Words formed from cacique

Words that rhyme with cacique

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about cacique

What does cacique mean?
Cacique means a tribal chief in the Spanish West Indies.
What part of speech is cacique?
Cacique is a noun.
How do you pronounce cacique?
Cacique is pronounced /kəˈsiːk/.
What is the plural of cacique?
The plural of cacique is caciques.

Words near cacique in the dictionary

  1. cacio e pepe
  2. caciocavallo
  3. caciocavallos
  4. Cacioppo
  5. Cacioppos
  6. cacique
  7. caciques
  8. caciqueship
  9. caciqueships
  10. caciquism
  11. caciquismo

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cacique (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: “cacique.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cacique. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.