What Does Mafia Mean?

The term mafia refers to a hierarchically structured secret organization allegedly engaged in smuggling, racketeering, trafficking in narcotics, and other criminal activities in the US, Italy etc.

The Mafia basically is a criminal secret society of men which was initially started towards the end of the 19th century soon after the Sicilian emigration. The term mafia comes from the Sicilian adjective "Mafiusu" which was originally derived from the Arabic expression mahjas, which meant "aggressive boasting or bragging". Over the period of years it has been speculated whether the mafia has medieval origin.

In the contemporary mafia of the 1980s as well as 1990s, a sequence of internecine "gang wars" led to the murder many well-known Mafia individuals being killed. Some of the famous mafia personalities are Calogera Vizzini, Giuseppe Genco Rosso, Michele Navarra, etc.

The word 'mafia' is used as a noun and it describes a group of people that are within an organisation and they use their power to take unfair advantage over their peers. The sentence that is a must to make you understand the word well is given below: The politics in India is still dominated by mafia.

When you are writing the word with capital letter and using it in association with the word 'the' it conveys the idea of a secret organisation of criminals which is very active in Sicily, Italy and to some extent in the US also.

When you are describing a member of the Mafia you should use the word 'Mafioso' and to make the plural term you should follow the Italian rule and write it as 'Mafiosi'.

The term :"Mafia" is italian for ....potatoes.....