machete

[muh-shet-ee, -chet-ee]

noun

1. a large heavy knife used especially in Latin American countries in cutting sugarcane and clearing underbrush and as a weapon.

2. a tarpon, Elops affinis, of the eastern Pacific Ocean, having an elongated, compressed body.

machete

/ -ˈtʃeɪ-, məˈʃɛtɪ /

noun

1. a broad heavy knife used for cutting or as a weapon, esp in parts of Central and South America

Word History and Origins

Origin of machete¹

First recorded in 1575–1600; < Spanish, equivalent to mach(o) “mallet” ( mace ¹ ) + -ete noun suffix ( -et ( def. ) )

Word History and Origins

Origin of machete¹

C16 macheto, from Spanish machete, from macho club, perhaps from Vulgar Latin mattea (unattested) club

Example Sentences

He then approached with a machete which he used to attack the injured man.

Read more on BBC

During a single massacre in June, Islamist militants set fire to buildings where Nigerian Christians slept and attacked those escaping with machetes, murdering as many as 200.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

On Saturday morning, men with machetes hacked through branches as thick as their arms, clearing patches of the road where traffic jams were at a standstill.

Read more on BBC

The finished product, titled “Commietown,” used racially inflammatory images, including those of threatening Arab men, some toting guns, and a Black man chasing people on a subway platform with a machete.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

In Cuba, residents of the country's second-largest city Santiago de Cuba worked with machetes to clear streets buried in debris.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• blade 
• knife 
• sickle