Mafia

See also: mafia, máfia, màfia, and mafią

English

Alternative forms

• Maffia (less common)

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.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈmɑfi.ə/
• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈmæfi.ə/

Proper noun

the Mafia

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).

   Synonym: Mob

   1. The international criminal organization of Sicilian origin operating in Italy and the United States.

      Synonym: Cosa Nostra

   2. Any other specific organized crime syndicate operating internationally in high-level organized crime; often with a modifying adjective, such as a nationality.

      Somehow he managed to upset the Russian Mafia.

Mafia

1. A party game modelling a conflict between an informed minority (the mafia) and an uninformed majority (the innocents). Each player is secretly assigned a role within one of these teams, and the innocents attempt to identify the mafia members before they are all "murdered".

Derived terms

• mafia
• mafia state

Related terms

• Mafiosa
• Mafioso
• mafiya (rare, used to describe Russian "mafias")

Translations

international criminal organisation of Sicilian origin

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 黑手黨／黑手党 (hak¹ sau² dong²)

  Mandarin: 黑手黨／黑手党 (zh) (hēishǒudǎng)

• Czech: mafie (cs) f
• Esperanto: Mafio
• Finnish: mafia (fi)
• German: Mafia (de) f
• Greek: Μαφία f (Mafía)
• Italian: Mafia (it) f
• Romanian: Mafia f
• Sicilian: Mafia f

organized criminal syndicate

• Czech: mafie (cs) f
• Esperanto: mafio
• Finnish: mafia (fi)
• German: Mafia (de) f
• Greek: μαφία (el) f (mafía)
• Hungarian: maffia (hu), gyilkosos
• Italian: mafia (it) f
• Romanian: mafie (ro) f
• Sicilian: mafia (scn) f

party game

• Chinese:

  Cantonese: killer (kiu¹ laa², kiu¹ laa⁴) (Hong Kong)

  Mandarin: 狼人殺／狼人杀 (zh) (lángrénshā)

See also

• (party game): Werewolf
• Camorra
• capo
• godfather
• goodfella
• 'Ndrangheta
• omertà
• Thuggee
• triad
• yakuza

German

Alternative forms

• Maffia (superseded)

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian mafia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmafi̯a/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

Mafia f (genitive Mafia, plural Mafias)

1. Mafia

Declension

Declension of Mafia [feminine]

	singular			plural
	indef.	def.	noun	def.	noun
nominative	eine	die	Mafia	die	Mafias
genitive	einer	der	Mafia	der	Mafias
dative	einer	der	Mafia	den	Mafias
accusative	eine	die	Mafia	die	Mafias

Further reading

• “Mafia” in Duden online
• “Mafia” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache