Standard Lemma guide

marabaraba

noun · 1 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

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1

noun

Meaning 1

An African board game, still played regularly.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • We rest at the viewpoint after an easy hour of walking, and our guide teaches us some finer points of Marabaraba, a board game hastily drawn on a sandstone rock, with little stones for “cows”. https://web.archive.org/web/20060710035511/http://www.seelesotho.com/travel/cities/towns_menu.htm
  • The murals, themselves subject to the cycle of nature and life, are an impermanent art, requiring annual renewal because they are washed off by the rain. Some mural designs depict objects such as women's coiffure, initiation masks or the board for marabaraba, a popular game like checkers, van Wyk said. https://web.archive.org/web/20100627234800/http://www.columbia.edu/cu/record/archives/vol20/vol20_iss6/record2006.17.html
  • https://web.archive.org/web/20061002050247/http://www.sahistory.org.za/pages/classroom/pages/guidelines-mapungubwe.htm

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Shangaan: marabaraba

Across languages

Translations

1 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Venda: mafuvha — board game