different between marabout vs marabou

English

Etymology

From French marabout, from Portuguese maraboto, marabuto, from Moroccan Arabic ????????? (mrabe?) (standard Arabic ????????? (mur?bi?, “soldier stationed in fortified outpost”)).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?ma??bu?t/

Noun

marabout (plural marabouts)

1. A Muslim holy man or mystic, especially in parts of North Africa. [from 17th c.]
   • 1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York Review Books 2006, p. 38:

     one of their principal targets was the marabouts – or holy men and leaders of mystic orders – whom they accused both of corrupting the faith by their espousal of mysticism and of being the ‘domestic animals of colonialism’.

2. The tomb or shrine of such a person. [from 19th c.]

Derived terms

• maraboutic
• maraboutism

Translations

Anagrams

• tamboura

French

Alternative forms

• marabou

Etymology

Arabic ????????? (mur?bi?).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ma.?a.bu/

Noun

marabout m (plural marabouts)

1. (religion) marabout
2. (zoology) marabou, stork of the Leptoptilos genus

Derived terms

• marabouter
• maraboutage
• maraboutisme
• maraboutiste

Descendants

• ? Catalan: marabú
• ? English: marabout
• ? Spanish: marabú

Further reading

• “marabout” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Wikispecies

Alternative forms

• marabu

Etymology

From French marabou, an older spelling of marabout.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?mæ??bu?/

Noun

marabou (plural marabous)

1. Leptoptilos crumeniferus, a large wading bird native to Africa, with a naked head and neck adapted for scavenging.
2. (dated, US, Louisiana) A person, five-eighths of whose ancestry is black; the offspring of a mulatto and a griffe.

   • (Can we find and add a quotation of Bartlett to this entry?)

3. A kind of thrown raw silk, naturally nearly white, but capable of being dyed without scouring.
4. A thin fabric made from this silk, as for scarfs.

Synonyms

• (bird): adjutant stork, marabou stork

Coordinate terms

• (person of mixed race): see list in mulatto

Translations