cacique

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A tribal chief in the Spanish West Indies.

   Mexico has loved a strong leader since before Moctezuma. Indigenous tribes were ruled by caciques, or chieftans^([sic]), and in some rural communities caciques are still unchallenged.

2. 2
   noun

   black-and-red or black-and-yellow orioles of the American tropics

3. 3
   noun

   A local political leader in Latin America, Spain, or the Philippines.

4. 4
   noun

   Any of a number of tropical birds from Central America and South America in the genera Cacicus, Cassiculus, and Amblycercus.

Borrowed from Spanish cacique, from Taíno *kasike or Lokono kassequa, cazaqah (“chieftain; power”).

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