Origin: 1635–45; (< Sp (
azúcar)
mascabado) < Pg (
açúcar)
mascavado, ptp. of
mascavar to separate raw sugar, earlier
meoscabar, reduced form of
menoscabar to belittle, detract from, c. Sp
menoscabar to diminish, reduce < VL
*minuscapāre, equiv. to L
minus smaller, less (
see minus ) + VL
*-capāre, deriv. of
*capum, for L
caput head;
cf. achieve, mischief 
[muhs-kuh-vey-doh, -vah-] 