milpa

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish milpa, from Classical Nahuatl.

Noun

milpa (countable and uncountable, plural milpas)

1. (agriculture, uncountable) A cyclical crop-growing system used throughout Mesoamerica.
   • 2007, Peter John Ucko, G. W. Dimbleby, The Domestication and Exploitation of Plants and Animals, Transaction Publishers (→ISBN), page 13:

     Milpa is based on seed crops, particularly the uniquely productive combination of maize, beans and squash, and in the past its techniques were normally those of swidden cultivation.

2. (agriculture, countable) A small field, especially in Mexico or Central America, that is cleared from the jungle, cropped for a few seasons, and then abandoned for a fresh clearing.
   • 1993, Richard E. Blanton, Stephen A. Kowalewski, Ancient Mesoamerica: A Comparison of Change in Three Regions, Cambridge University Press (→ISBN), page 40:

     These three plants are often grown together in a single field called a milpa, the beans creeping up the corn stalks while the squash plants catch along the lower leaves of the corn plants.

   • 2010, Sheldon Annis, God and Production in a Guatemalan Town, University of Texas Press (→ISBN), page 37:

     That means that no one can get rich or make someone else rich by farming a milpa. Since it works against capital accumulation, it is antithetical to entrepreneurship. In short, planting a milpa optimizes resources in a very particular way.

Further reading

• milpa on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• limpa

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Eastern Huasteca Nahuatl

Etymology

Cognate to Classical Nahuatl mīlpan

Noun

milpa

1. cornfield.

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Spanish

Etymology

From Classical Nahuatl mīlpan, from mīlli (“cultivated land”) + the locative pan (“in; on”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈmilpa/

Noun

milpa f (plural milpas)

1. (Central America) cornfield

Further reading

• “milpa” in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014.

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Warlpiri

Noun

milpa

1. eye

See also

• milpa-ngapa