Plural of barra; a type of pike fish, or a unit of measurement and currency in historical contexts.
From Spanish/Portuguese barra meaning 'bar' or 'rod'. In Spanish America, barras were both fish and a form of currency or trade unit based on standardized metal bars.
In colonial Latin America, barras were literally bars of metal used as money before minted coins—the word itself embodies the tangible, bar-shaped currency of early trade!
Complete word intelligence in one call. Free tier — 50 lookups/day.