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tsantsa

British  
/ ˈtsæntsə /

noun

  1. (among the Shuar subgroup of the Jivaro people of Ecuador) the shrunken head of an enemy kept as a trophy

"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

Etymology

Origin of tsantsa

from Shuar

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:

In memoirs, he described an interaction he had with men who spoke a language in the Chicham linguistic family in which he traded coins, a pocketknife and military insignia for the tsantsa.

From New York Times May 13, 2021

The tsantsa was displayed in the Willet Science Center at Mercer University before it was placed in the university’s small cultural museum.

From New York Times May 13, 2021

The head, a mummified Amazonian war trophy called a tsantsa, had been in the possession of Mercer University in Macon, Ga., for decades.

From New York Times May 13, 2021

Shrunken heads were then produced by people in the Amazon and by outsiders merely for trading purposes, with the earliest known account of an outsider making a tsantsa in 1872.

From New York Times May 13, 2021

"The singular artifact in this paper is presumed to be an authentic tsantsa composed of human tissue," wrote professors Byron and Kiefer.

From Fox News May 11, 2021

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