barranco

See also: Barranco

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish barranco.

Noun

barranco (plural barrancos or barrancoes)

1. A gully, gulch, or ravine.
   • 1867, The Month: A Magazine and Review, page 344:

     We remounted at 3 p.m., and for three hours and a half we rode down a goat-track which resembled the depths of a barranco. It was the dry bed of a river, with rocks balanced upon each other […]

   • 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 7, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC:

     A little fire burned in the hollow of the dusty barranco, a clear red fire of the kind that gives little light and makes no smoke, and its pale glow showed but feebly against the rock behind.

Portuguese

barranco (dirt cliff)

barranco (gully)

Etymology

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /baˈʁɐ̃.ku/ [baˈhɐ̃.ku]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /baˈʁɐ̃.ku/ [baˈhɐ̃.ku]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /baˈʁɐ̃.ku/ [baˈχɐ̃.ku]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /bɐˈʁɐ̃.ku/

• Hyphenation: bar‧ran‧co

Noun

barranco m (plural barrancos)

1. a dirt cliff, especially one at the edge of a river or road

   Synonyms: barranca, ribanceira

2. gully (trench, ravine or narrow channel which was worn by water flow)

   Synonym: (Brazil) voçoroca

Related terms

• barranca
• barrancoso

Further reading

• “barranco”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026
• “barranco”, in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa (in Portuguese), Lisbon: Priberam, 2008–2026

Spanish

Etymology

Uncertain; maybe of pre-Roman origin. Cognate with Catalan barranc; cf. barra (“clay, mud”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /baˈranko/ [baˈrãŋ.ko]
• Rhymes: -anko
• Syllabification: ba‧rran‧co

Noun

barranco m (plural barrancos)

1. gully, gulch, ravine, barranca

   Synonyms: cañada, cañón, quiebra, quebrada

Derived terms

• barranquismo
• barranquista
• embarrancar

Further reading

• “barranco”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025