bandeirante

From Portuguese bandeirante, from bandeira (“flag”).

bandeirante (plural bandeirantes)

1. (historical) One of the European adventurers and slavers who were responsible for exploring much of early colonial Brazil.
   • 2003, Peter Robb, A Death in Brazil, Bloomsbury, published 2005, page 14:

     Its tough and cruel settler bandeirantes were the first Europeans to penetrate Brazil's interior on their long slaving forays against the índios.

   • 2015 April 24, Bruce Douglas, “Brazil activists to walk 600 miles for 'free markets, lower taxes and privatisation'”, in The Guardian‎^[1]:

     On Friday afternoon, Santos and a few dozen other activists will set off from the Praça Panamericana in western São Paulo on a 1,000km (621-mile) walk to Brasília, the Brazilian capital, following one of the routes of the bandeirantes.

From bandeira +‎ -ante.

• Rhymes: -ɐ̃tɨ, -ɐ̃tʃi
• Hyphenation: ban‧dei‧ran‧te

bandeirante m or f by sense (plural bandeirantes)

1. (historical) bandeirante

• bandeira