malagueta
UK/maləˈɡɛtə/US/ˌmɑləˈɡweɪdə/
malagueta noun: synonym of grains of paradise, the seeds or seed capsules of the West African Aframomum melegueta; the plant itself.
Noun
malagueta (plural malaguetas)
- Synonym of grains of paradise, the seeds or seed capsules of the West African Aframomum melegueta; the plant itself.
- In Ginney the fruit that is most rife and common... is named Maniguetta.1568, André Thevet, translated by Thomas Hacket, The New Found Worlde, or Antarctike, Wherein Is Contained Woderful and Strange Things, 26v
- The people of the Gold Coast, when suffering from headache, rub over the forehead a paste of Malaguetta pepper.1863, Richard F. Burton, Wanderings in West Africa, Dover Publications 1991 edition, volume II, page 37
- Synonyms:
- grains of paradise
- The seeds or seed capsules of a Caribbean variety of Capsicum frutescens; the plant itself, now extensively grown in Brazil, Portugal, and Mozambique.
- Their seasoning is generally a berry of the Malaguetta, a variety of the Capsicum Gutescens.1824, Johann Baptist von Spix et al., translated by Hannibal Evans Lloyd, Travels in Brazil in the Years 1817-1820, Vol. II, iv, ii, 260
malagueta meaning in Tamil
malagueta in Tamil
- நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும், தாவரங்களில் ஒன்றாகும்
Synonyms of malagueta
Forms of malagueta
| plural | malaguetas |
|---|---|
| alternative form | melegueta |
| alternative form | mallaguetta |
| alternative form | manegete |
| alternative form | maniguetta |
| alternative form | maniguette |
| alternative form | mallagetta |
| alternative form | mellegette |
| alternative form | malegutta |
| alternative form | malaguetta |
| alternative form | malagato |
| alternative form | malaget |
| alternative form | malagetta |
| alternative form | malaghetta |
| alternative form | malegetta |
| alternative form | mileguetta |
| alternative form | malaguette |
| alternative form | malaguet |
| alternative form | meleguetta |
Origin of malagueta
From Portuguese malagueta, probably via Middle French malaguette, from Italian meleghetta, from Italian melega (“sorghum”) and -etta (diminutive suffix). There are various paths by which the name could have become applied to the African pepper. Medieval Latin melegeta was an Indonesian spice called after millet on the basis of the supposed resemblance of their grains. By the mid-15th century, the West African Grain Coast was known in Portuguese as costa da malagueta, whence the place name was borrowed into other languages and applied to its local products. Early English use reports that it was the local name of the spice, long preserved around Cape Palmas, which may indicate a Mande or Kwa origin, although such use is usually attributed to loanwords from Portuguese. The unrelated Brazilian pepper acquired the name from its similar piquancy.
Words formed from malagueta
Phrases with malagueta
Questions about malagueta
- What does malagueta mean?
- Malagueta means synonym of grains of paradise, the seeds or seed capsules of the West African Aframomum melegueta; the plant itself.
- What is malagueta in Tamil?
- Malagueta in Tamil is நமது பூமியில் காணப்படும், தாவரங்களில் ஒன்றாகும். See Malagueta meaning in Tamil.
- What part of speech is malagueta?
- Malagueta is a noun.
- How do you pronounce malagueta?
- Malagueta is pronounced /maləˈɡɛtə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of malagueta?
- The plural of malagueta is malaguetas.
Words near malagueta in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: malagueta (page history and authors); malagueta (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.
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Cite this entry: “malagueta.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/malagueta. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.