maraca
Americannoun
-
maracas
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of maraca
1815–25; < Portuguese < Tupi maráka
Explanation
A maraca is a musical instrument that you shake — the stones or beans rattle against the hollow case in time to the beat of the music. If the violin seems a bit too complicated to learn, try out some maracas! Maracas are percussion instruments commonly used in Latin and Caribbean music. They mark the beat like drums do, and they are fairly simple to play. Most traditional maracas are made out of dried, hollow gourds or coconut shells, and they're filled with dry beans or pebbles. The word maraca comes from the Portuguese, via a Brazilian language called Tupi. In some French-speaking parts of the world, maracas are called "shac-shacs."
Vocabulary lists containing maraca
Music to My Ears: Instrumental Vocab
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The Distance Between Us
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Musical Instruments - Introductory
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
That’s where he got his maraca work from.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2025
In Indigenous communities from the Amazon to the Caribbean, the shaman’s maraca opens the channel to the spirit realm.
From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2021
He wore a long headdress of blue macaw feathers and held a maraca.
From Reuters ● Aug. 25, 2021
The Dessners, meanwhile, whose father was a jazz drummer, and who play more instruments than you can shake a maraca at, wanted to push it ever weirder and wilder.
From The Guardian ● Aug. 27, 2017
French fries spring loose in the bag, and it shakes around like a maraca.
From "A Heart in a Body in the World" by Deb Caletti
We're speaking in the middle of the same crowded bistro, where maracas, horns, matracas, and chants almost drown out our conversation.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
The maker of maracas, hammocks and ceramics does not see his vote as automatically transferable.
From Seattle Times ● May 15, 2024
What inspired you to pick up maracas in the middle of a song like “Don’t Play?”
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2022
Playing keyboard, guitars, drums and maracas, the men performed three songs they had composed during the pandemic, while Bryant and Curtis played tracks from Bryant’s new album, “Whole Heart.”
From Washington Post ● Sep. 13, 2022
To African drums, the Cubans gradually added an array of percussion instruments that were native to the region, such as the claves and the maracas.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
