muscovado

noun

mus·​co·​va·​do

variants or less commonly muscavado

ˌməskəˈvā(ˌ)dō,

-vä(ˌ)-

plural -s

: unrefined or raw sugar obtained from the juice of the sugarcane by evaporation and draining off the molasses

Word History

Etymology

Spanish or Portuguese; Spanish (azúcar) mascabado, from Portuguese (açúcar) mascavado, from açúcar sugar + mascavado, past participle of mascavar to adulterate, separate raw sugar (from molasses), from (assumed) Vulgar Latin minuscapare, from Latin minus less + caput head

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