Phrase guide

terra preta

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

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

No pronunciation record was provided for this word.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A very dark, man-made, nutritionally dense soil found in the Amazon basin.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: uncountable

Examples

  • 2004, The Review of Archæology, Volumes 25-27, Review of Archæology, page 35, The two earliest phases are preceramic and the sites are not terra preta. The earliest terra preta is associated with the Massangana Phase, which begins ca 3600 cal BC.
  • 2008, Science, Volume 321, Issues 5892-5897, American Association for the Advancement of Science, page 1152, Terra preta is believed to have been an essential part of a distinctive agricultural system. According to the terra preta team, Indians slowly cleared off the forest to create farm plots and planted annual crops such as manioc [...] .

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese terra preta, from terra (“soil”) + preta (“black”).

Across languages

Translations

3 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • French: terra preta — very dark, man-made, nutritionally dense soil
  • German: Terra Preta — very dark, man-made, nutritionally dense soil
  • Portuguese: terra preta — very dark, man-made, nutritionally dense soil