conga

conga (drum or dance)

noun KON-gah Rare

Usage Note

Conga refers both to a tall, barrel-shaped Afro-Cuban drum and to the line dance in which participants hold the hips of the person in front. The word derives from the Bantu-speaking region of the Congo, filtered through Cuban Spanish. In percussion contexts, congas usually come in pairs or sets of three with different pitches (conga, tumba, quinto). The dance sense is the one most often encountered in everyday speech outside musical contexts.

Examples

"Tocó la conga en el concierto."

Natural Translation

He played the conga at the concert.

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