"toshao" meaning in English

See toshao in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /ˈtɒʃaʊ/ Forms: toshaos [plural], toshau [alternative]
Etymology: From Guyanese Amerindian languages, possibly influenced by Portuguese tuxaua, meaning "village chief." Head templates: {{en-noun}} toshao (plural toshaos)
  1. (Guyana, chiefly historical) The elected leader or head of an Indigenous Amerindian community in Guyana, responsible for representing the village and managing its affairs, particularly in dealings with the government. Tags: Guyana, historical

Inflected forms

{
  "etymology_text": "From Guyanese Amerindian languages, possibly influenced by Portuguese tuxaua, meaning \"village chief.\"",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "toshaos",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "toshau",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "toshao (plural toshaos)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Guyanese English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              178,
              184
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2006, Sharon Ousman, Duncan Macqueen, Grace Roberts, Stronger by Association: Lessons from Guyana's Forest-based Associations (IIED small and medium forest enterprise series; 16), International Institute for Environment and Development, page 64:",
          "text": "Membership representation on the board has recently been changed to include 16 community leaders, one other elected community member from each village, a youth group leader, the toshao (village leader) for Annai District, an elder and one woman leader.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              0,
              6
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2022, Ulrike Schröder, Milene Mendes de Oliveira, Adriana Maria Tenut, editors, Metaphorical Conceptualizations: (Inter)Cultural Perspectives (Applications of Cognitive Linguistics; 45), illustrated edition, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, page 118:",
          "text": "toshao – elected tribal leader of an Amerindian village or community (miscellaneous references)",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              216,
              222
            ],
            [
              216,
              223
            ],
            [
              268,
              274
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2024, Casey High, Luiz Costa, editors, The Lowland South American World (Routledge Worlds), illustrated edition, Taylor & Francis, page 786:",
          "text": "I witnessed a similar concern in 2018 in Guyana, where the election of leaders has been introduced in the late 1950s (when they were called \"captains\") and formalized by the Amerindian Act of 2006 (under the name of toshaos): some villagers suggested that the village toshao had been elected only thanks to the votes of people who had recently arrived from Venezuela and whose legitimacy as Village residents was therefore questionable.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The elected leader or head of an Indigenous Amerindian community in Guyana, responsible for representing the village and managing its affairs, particularly in dealings with the government."
      ],
      "id": "en-toshao-en-noun-iikEpQPT",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Guyana, chiefly historical) The elected leader or head of an Indigenous Amerindian community in Guyana, responsible for representing the village and managing its affairs, particularly in dealings with the government."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Guyana",
        "historical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtɒʃaʊ/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "toshao"
}
{
  "etymology_text": "From Guyanese Amerindian languages, possibly influenced by Portuguese tuxaua, meaning \"village chief.\"",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "toshaos",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "toshau",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "toshao (plural toshaos)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms with historical senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Guyanese English",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              178,
              184
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2006, Sharon Ousman, Duncan Macqueen, Grace Roberts, Stronger by Association: Lessons from Guyana's Forest-based Associations (IIED small and medium forest enterprise series; 16), International Institute for Environment and Development, page 64:",
          "text": "Membership representation on the board has recently been changed to include 16 community leaders, one other elected community member from each village, a youth group leader, the toshao (village leader) for Annai District, an elder and one woman leader.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              0,
              6
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2022, Ulrike Schröder, Milene Mendes de Oliveira, Adriana Maria Tenut, editors, Metaphorical Conceptualizations: (Inter)Cultural Perspectives (Applications of Cognitive Linguistics; 45), illustrated edition, Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG, page 118:",
          "text": "toshao – elected tribal leader of an Amerindian village or community (miscellaneous references)",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              216,
              222
            ],
            [
              216,
              223
            ],
            [
              268,
              274
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2024, Casey High, Luiz Costa, editors, The Lowland South American World (Routledge Worlds), illustrated edition, Taylor & Francis, page 786:",
          "text": "I witnessed a similar concern in 2018 in Guyana, where the election of leaders has been introduced in the late 1950s (when they were called \"captains\") and formalized by the Amerindian Act of 2006 (under the name of toshaos): some villagers suggested that the village toshao had been elected only thanks to the votes of people who had recently arrived from Venezuela and whose legitimacy as Village residents was therefore questionable.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The elected leader or head of an Indigenous Amerindian community in Guyana, responsible for representing the village and managing its affairs, particularly in dealings with the government."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(Guyana, chiefly historical) The elected leader or head of an Indigenous Amerindian community in Guyana, responsible for representing the village and managing its affairs, particularly in dealings with the government."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Guyana",
        "historical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/ˈtɒʃaʊ/"
    }
  ],
  "word": "toshao"
}

Download raw JSONL data for toshao meaning in English (2.8kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2025-07-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2025-07-01 using wiktextract (45c4a21 and f1c2b61). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

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