Contraband

How to spell contraband

10 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce contraband

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does contraband mean?

1. nounGoods that have been imported or exported illegally, or possessed in breach of the law.
2. adjectiveForbidden from being traded, imported, or possessed under the law.

Contraband in a sentence

• noun

  Customs officers found contraband hidden inside the spare tyre.

• adjective

  The soldiers confiscated a crate of contraband weapons at the border.

• noun

  The prison guards searched every cell for contraband.

• adjective

  Selling contraband goods can lead to heavy fines and jail time.

Where does contraband come from?

Language of origin: Italian

The word arrived in English around the late 1500s through Italian contrabbando, often by way of Spanish contrabando and French contrebande, all describing goods traded in defiance of an official ban. The Italian form was built from the Latin elements contra, meaning 'against', and bannum, a Medieval Latin word for a public ban, decree, or proclamation. So the literal idea was something done 'against the proclamation', that is, trade carried on in breach of a law or edict. Over time English narrowed it to mean smuggled or illegally imported goods, and later the prohibited status itself. The hidden 'band' element is the spelling trap: it is the same root that gives us 'ban' and 'banish', and remembering that contraband is literally goods moving 'against the ban' keeps the spelling on track.

How the word is built

• contra- (against)
• band (from Medieval Latin bannum: a ban or official proclamation)