mucama

Portuguese

Alternative forms

• mucamba

Etymology

Borrowed from Kimbundu mukama (“slave, concubine”).

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /muˈkɐ̃.mɐ/

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /muˈkɐ̃.mɐ/
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /muˈkɐ.ma/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /muˈkɐ.mɐ/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /muˈkɐ.mɐ/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /muˈka.mɐ/

• Rhymes: -ɐmɐ
• Hyphenation: mu‧ca‧ma

Noun

mucama f (plural mucamas)

1. (Brazil, obsolete) housemaid; servant

   Synonym: criado

   • 1881, Machado de Assis, O Alienista‎^[1], section VI, page 46:

     —Está, sinhá, respondia a mucama de cócoras no chão, está boa. Sinhá vira um bocadinho. Assim. Está muito boa.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

2. (Brazil, historical) domestic slave

   Synonym: macuma

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese mucama, from Kimbundu mukama (“slave, concubine”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /muˈkama/ [muˈka.ma]
• Rhymes: -ama
• Syllabification: mu‧ca‧ma

Noun

mucama f (plural mucamas)

1. maid
2. chambermaid
   • a. 1964, Felisberto Hernández, El pájaro asustado:

     Al llegar a mi hotel hice llamar a la mucama y le pedí que me trajera mis zapatillas.

     (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Related terms

• mucamo

 

Further reading

• “mucamo”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10