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favela

 - 2 dictionary results

fa⋅ve⋅la

  [fuh-vel-uh; Port. fah-ve-lah]
Use favela in a Sentence
–noun
a shantytown in or near a city, esp. in Brazil; slum area.
Origin:
1945–50; < Brazilian Pg: alleged to be a name given to a hill in the vicinity of Rio de Janeiro, where such towns were built ca. 1900; lit., a shrub of the family Euphorbiaceae, deriv. of Pg fava bean < L faba
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To favela
fa·ve·la   (fə-věl'ə)   
n.  A shantytown or slum, especially in Brazil.

[Portuguese, possibly from diminutive of favo, honeycomb (from Latin favus) or from favelas (probably from pl. of favela, spurge, from fava, bean, from Latin faba; see bha-bhā- in Indo-European roots).]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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