Carioca (
or ) is a Brazilian
noun or
substantive used to refer anything related to the city of
Rio de Janeiro—capital of the homonymous state (
Rio de Janeiro)—in
Brazil. The original word, "kara'i oka", comes from the indigenous
Tupi language meaning "white man's house". It is said that the first
Portuguese dwellings in Rio de Janeiro were placed along a limpid
stream, which was soon adapted into Portuguese as
Carioca.