faena means A series of passes performed by a matador with a muleta or a sword before the kill. It carries an Arena rating of 1378, earned across 57 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, faena ranks #424 of 17,149 for Most Exacting Words, #2,624 of 17,151 for The Improbable, #3,874 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #4,052 of 17,142 for Most Ingenious Words.
faena is pronounced /fɑˈeɪ.nə/.
Why “faena” is a great word
FAENA — [Noun] The final, choreographed series of passes and maneuvers performed by the matador with the muleta and sword, a ritualized prelude to the kill in a bullfight. Borrowed from Spanish faena ("task, labor"), itself from Old Spanish facienda, from Latin facienda ("things to be done"), from facere ("to do, to make"). Doublet of hacienda and fazenda. Unlike tarea, a general term for any chore, or muletazo, which names a single pass, a faena is the cumulative, performative whole—the entire artistic and lethal labor. It is the slow, hypnotic swirl of crimson cloth sculpting air around a panting mass of muscle, the precise pivot of the matador's heels in the sand, and the held breath of the plaza resolving into a collective roar—the transformation of butchery into a liturgy, where death becomes the final, graceful task.
Etymology
Borrowed from Spanish faena. Doublet of hacienda and fazenda.
noun
- A series of passes performed by a matador with a muleta or a sword before the kill.
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- pase 55% match — A maneuver in bullfighting in which a bullfighter tries to get a bull's attention by manipulating his cape. vs faena →
- feazings 52% match — The unlaid or ragged end of a rope. vs faena →
- capea 51% match — An event in which small bulls or heifers are released into the arena and members of the audience can interact with them. vs faena →
- bullfighting 51% match — A traditional spectacle, popular in Spain and many former Spanish colonies, in which a matador manipulates and ultimately kills a bull at close range. vs faena →
- fainaigue 50% match — To achieve or obtain (something) by complicated or deceitful methods; to finagle, to wangle. vs faena →
- volapié 50% match — A mortal thrust to the bull. The bullfighter runs towards the stationary bull, facing it head-on, jumps on top of it and thrusts the estocada into the bull's back. vs faena →
- bullfight 49% match — A public spectacle, in Spain and some other Latin countries, in which a person baits and often kills a bull. vs faena →
- cuadrilla 49% match — The team which supports the matador. vs faena →