Mafia
English
editAlternative forms
edit- Maffia (less common)
Etymology
editFrom Italian mafia. Perhaps from Italian mafia (“spirit of hostility to the law”) or from Sicilian mafiusu (“boldness, bravado”). See the Wikipedia article for more discussion of the origin of the word. Doublet of mafiya.
Pronunciation
editProper noun
editthe Mafia
- The Mob: any particular mafia, mentioned uniquely within the discussion's established or implicit context, usually and especially the Sicilian-Italian–Italian-American one (especially in American English) but occasionally others (e.g., the Russian one, the Japanese one).
- Synonym: Mob
- The international criminal organization of Sicilian origin operating in Italy and the United States.
- Synonym: Cosa Nostra
- Any other specific organized crime syndicate operating internationally in high-level organized crime; often with a modifying adjective, such as a nationality.
- Somehow he managed to upset the Russian Mafia.
Mafia
- A party game modelling a conflict between an informed minority (the mafia) and an uninformed majority (the innocents). Each player is secretly assigned a role within one of these teams, and the innocents attempt to identify the mafia members before they are all "murdered".
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
editinternational criminal organisation of Sicilian origin
organized criminal syndicate
party game
See also
editGerman
editAlternative forms
editEtymology
editPronunciation
editNoun
editMafia f (genitive Mafia, plural Mafias)
Declension
editDeclension of Mafia [feminine]
Further reading
editCategories:
- English terms borrowed from Italian
- English terms derived from Italian
- English terms derived from Sicilian
- English doublets
- English 3-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English lemmas
- English proper nouns
- English uncountable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Crime
- en:Organizations
- German terms borrowed from Italian
- German terms derived from Italian
- German 2-syllable words
- German terms with IPA pronunciation
- German terms with audio links
- German lemmas
- German nouns
- German feminine nouns