la
feminine
/ˈmafja/
#2804 of 5,000 Core 5000
Translation
mafia, organised crime
Word origin
From Italian, first recorded in nineteenth-century Sicily. The ultimate origin is debated, with some accounts tracing it to an Arabic word carried into Sicilian.
- Origin
- Italian
- Root
- mafia
Grammar
Genderfeminine
Pluralmafias
Examples
.
The police have been investigating the local mafia for years.
.
The film is about a mafia family.
.
Nobody dares to speak out against the mafia.
.
The mafia controlled every business at the port.
.
The journalist wrote a book about the mafia.
Add to review queue
Track this word in your spaced-repetition queue and be tested on it at the right interval.
Go to my review queueThis word is part of lesson 57.