Pronunciation: [məkˈɑːbɹə] (IPA) 
The word "macabre" is often misspelled as "macarbe" or "macarbre". The correct spelling is /məˈkɑːb(rə)/, with the stress on the second syllable. The word comes from the Old French word "macabé", which means "death" or "deathly". It is typically used to describe something that is gruesome, horrifying or morbid. To remember the spelling, it might be helpful to think of the word "cobra" as they share the same ending "-bre".
Macabre is an adjective that describes something that is gruesome, eerie, or disturbing in a manner that evokes both a feeling of fascination and horror. It refers to a subject matter, style, or atmosphere characterized by elements of morbidity, death, or the supernatural. The term originates from the Middle French word "macabré," meaning "dance of death"; it stems from the medieval allegorical concept of the "Dance of Death" or "Danse Macabre," which depicted death as a skeletal figure physically leading knights, kings, and commoners alike in a final, inevitable dance towards their demise.
In contemporary usage, this word typically pertains to art, literature, or any creative work that presents unsettling or gruesome imagery, often depicting death, decay, or the grotesque. It carries connotations of gloom, darkness, and the uncanny, often playing with themes of fear, the afterlife, and the fragility of life. Macabre is frequently associated with horror and Gothic genres but can also be found in other artistic mediums such as music and theater.
Though macabre content may seem shocking or disturbing, it often serves as a medium for exploring human mortality, existential dread, and the human fascination with the macabre itself. It invites contemplation of the fragility of life, forcing individuals to confront their own mortality and embrace the inherent darkness of the human experience.
* The statistics data for these misspellings percentages are collected from over 15,411,110 spell check sessions on www.spellchecker.net from Jan 2010 - Jun 2012.
The word "macabre" comes from the French term "macabre" (pronounced ma-kab), which originated from the Latin phrase "Maccabaeorum martyrum chorēa" meaning "dance of the Maccabees" or "dance of death". The Maccabees were a group of Jewish rebel warriors who fought against the Seleucid Empire in the 2nd century BC. The association of their name with death likely originated from the tradition of danse macabre, a medieval play or dance depicting the universality of death, in which various characters, including skeletons, would appear and represent the dead. Over time, the term "macabre" evolved to refer to anything grim, gruesome, or associated with death or the supernatural.
