Cooked slowly over open flames or hot coals, usually with a smoky flavor; or meat prepared this way.
From Spanish 'barbacoa,' which likely came from Taíno (Caribbean) languages, describing a wooden frame for cooking meat. The word spread through colonial trade routes and became standard English by the 1600s.
Barbecue is one of the few English words that traveled *backward* from the Americas to Europe—most colonial words went the other way, making it a rare example of indigenous peoples' vocabulary spreading globally.
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