Mafia

Meaning

1. The Mob: any particular mafia, mentioned uniquely within the discussion's established or implicit context, usually and especially the Sicilian-Italian–Italian-American one (especially in American English) but occasionally others (e.g., the Russian one, the Japanese one).
2. The Mob: any particular mafia, mentioned uniquely within the discussion's established or implicit context, usually and especially the Sicilian-Italian–Italian-American one (especially in American English) but occasionally others (e.g., the Russian one, the Japanese one).

Synonyms

Maffia

Cosa Nostra

Sicilian Mafia

underworld

criminal world

Translations

mafia

Mafia

Mafia

mafia

mafia

màfia

máfia

Μαφία

Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven

μαφία

Mafia

Máfia

Cosa Nostra

Cosa nostra

Cosa Nostra

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈmɑfi.ə/

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian mafia, of uncertain origin. In the first instance, it is not clear whether the lemma in question is a Sicilian exonym or endonym, since written and oral sources on this term are scarce, the etymology remains uncertain and it's worthy of further investigation. It is possibly a regional term of the then recently established Kingdom of Italy; thus the meaning "spirit of hostility to the law" could be just derivative. The hypotheses put forward have been varied, but not very convincing from a reconstructive point of view. See Sicilian mafia for more. See, also, the Wikipedia article for more discussion of the origin of the word. Doublet of mafiya.