Marrano

//məˈɹɑːnəʊ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Alternative letter-case form of Marrano: a Jew who converted to Catholicism under threat or force. alt-of, historical
  2. 2
    Any of the Sephardi Jews who stayed in Iberia during the Spanish Inquisition, and continued to practice Judaism in secret. Judaism, historical

    "Look at the Crypto-Jews, the Marranos, who for centuries lived a double life, outwardly Christians, but handing down secretly from generation to generation the faith, the traditions, the observances of Judaism."

  3. 3
    (medieval Spain and Portugal) a disparaging term for a Jew who converted to Christianity in order to avoid persecution but continued to practice their religion secretly wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
conversocrypto-jew

Example

More examples

"Look at the Crypto-Jews, the Marranos, who for centuries lived a double life, outwardly Christians, but handing down secretly from generation to generation the faith, the traditions, the observances of Judaism."

Etymology

From Spanish marrano, of disputed origin. Perhaps a transferred use of marrano (“hog”), but many sources regard them as distinct words. Doublet of Muharram.

Related phrases

spanish inquisition

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.