A light, swift sailing boat or canoe used in West African waters, particularly along the Guinea coast.
From a West African language (possibly Akan or Yoruba), the word was adopted by Portuguese traders during early exploration and entered European languages through nautical terminology of the 15th-16th centuries.
Almadiascrossed the Atlantic—West African mariners used them to navigate treacherous coastlines, and European traders adopted both the boats and their names, showing how technology and language travel together!
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