Morna

//məʊˈɹnɑ// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A genre of Cape Verdean music and dance. uncountable

    "She [Cesária Évora] is most famous for singing morna, which roughly translates to “songs of mourning.” As with many other kinds of folk music, morna songs are handed down from generation to generation, tracing dominant themes in a people's history."

  2. 2
    A piece of music in this style. countable

Example

More examples

"She [Cesária Évora] is most famous for singing morna, which roughly translates to “songs of mourning.” As with many other kinds of folk music, morna songs are handed down from generation to generation, tracing dominant themes in a people's history."

Etymology

Borrowed from Portuguese morna.

Related phrases

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