cumbia

English

Etymology

From Colombian and Panamanian Spanish cumbia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkumbja/

Noun

cumbia (usually uncountable, plural cumbias)

1. (music) A traditional style of Colombian dance and music, or a piece in this style.
   • 2007 April 23, The New York Times, “New CDs”, in New York Times‎^[1]:

     There’s […] an accordion- and brass-pumped Colombian cumbia for “Cumbia de Los Aburridos” (“Cumbia of the Bored”).

Further reading

• cumbia on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Basque

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish cumbia.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kumbia/ [kũm.bi.a]
• Rhymes: -ia, -a
• Hyphenation: cum‧bi‧a

Noun

cumbia inan

1. cumbia

Declension

Declension of cumbia (inan sg-only a-stem)

	indefinite	singular
absolutive	cumbia	cumbia
ergative	—	cumbiak
dative	—	cumbiari
genitive	—	cumbiaren
comitative	—	cumbiarekin
causative	—	cumbiarengatik
benefactive	—	cumbiarentzat
instrumental	cumbiaz	cumbiaz
inessive	—	cumbian
locative	—	cumbiako
allative	—	cumbiara
terminative	—	cumbiaraino
directive	—	cumbiarantz
destinative	—	cumbiarako
ablative	—	cumbiatik
partitive	cumbiarik	—
prolative	cumbiatzat	—

Further reading

• “cumbia”, in Euskaltzaindiaren Hiztegia [Dictionary of the Basque Academy] (in Basque), Euskaltzaindia [Royal Academy of the Basque Language]

Spanish

Etymology

Of African, probably Bantu, origin. Akin to Cuban Spanish cumbé (“Afro-Caribbean dance”); see cumbancha.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkumbja/ [ˈkũm.bja]
• Rhymes: -umbja
• Syllabification: cum‧bia

Noun

cumbia f (plural cumbias)

1. (music) cumbia

Derived terms

• cumbiambero

Further reading

• “cumbia”, 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