What is the meaning of "caipirinha"?

“Caipirinha” means “peasant’s drink,” or more literally “little caipira,” referring to a rural person from Brazil’s São Paulo region.

The name comes from caipira, a Portuguese term associated with countryside inhabitants, especially people from the interior of São Paulo. The diminutive ending makes caipirinha a smaller or affectionate form. In English, “peasant’s drink” is a reasonable concise translation, although “country-style drink” can better convey the cultural nuance.

The caipirinha is Brazil’s national cocktail. Its classic recipe combines cachaça, a spirit distilled from sugarcane juice, with lime, sugar, and ice. The drink is muddled so the lime releases juice and aromatic oils.

The cocktail’s exact origin is debated, but accounts place its development in the interior of São Paulo in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. A caipiroska is a related variation made with vodka instead of cachaça.