maraca
Americannoun
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
He slumps to the ground, the tip of his tail forming a frantic maraca.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 30, 2014
The herbs shift rhythmically in my sack like the seeds of a maraca.
From "Dreaming in Cuban" by Cristina García
The WBC allowed fans to bring in 16 “permissible instruments,” including bongos, cowbells, maracas and trumpets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2026
Whether it's tapping a keyboard, playing the recorder or mastering the maracas, lots of us have probably had similar experiences of music lessons in school.
From BBC ● Oct. 28, 2024
Available are 90 guitars, 62 keyboards, 24 bass guitars, 15 maracas, five ukeleles, two tambourines and a couple of cowbells.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 3, 2023
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
There was one on an accordion, another on a fiddle, and a third was miscellaneous on maracas and triangle and drums when needed.
From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez
Definitions 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.
