favela
[ fuh-vel-uh; Portuguese fah-ve-lah ]
/ fəˈvɛl ə; Portuguese fɑˈvɛ lɑ /
noun
a shantytown in or near a city, especially in Brazil; slum area.
RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
faux pas, faux-naïf, fauxbourdon, fava bean, fave, favela, favelado, favella, favellidium, faveolate, faveolus
Origin of favela
1945–50; < Brazilian Portuguese: alleged to be a name given to a hill in the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro, where such towns were built circa 1900; literally, a shrub of the family Euphorbiaceae, derivative of Portuguese fava bean < Latin faba
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for favela
I interviewed Lilian, a single mother living in a Rio de Janeiro favela.
The high school kids who broke it were Brazilian Linux hackers who lived in a favela -- a kind of squatter's slum.
Little Brother|Cory Doctorow
British Dictionary definitions for favela
favela
/ (fɑːˈveɪlə) /
noun
(in Brazil) a shanty or shantytown
Word Origin for favela
C20: from Portuguese
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012