poncho

See also: Poncho and ponchó

English

Brazilian president Lula da Silva wearing a poncho

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish poncho, from Quechua punchu. In sense “rubber rain poncho”, attested 1845, used for non-South American garments in the United States and England from 1850s, popularized by US Western expeditions and military from 1850s, particularly after World War II (1940s).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈpɒn.tʃəʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈpɑn.t͡ʃoʊ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɒntʃəʊ

Noun

poncho (plural ponchos or ponchoes)

1. A simple garment, made from a rectangle of cloth, with a slit in the middle for the head.
   • 1975, Margery Turner Fisher, Who's Who in Children's Books, page 203:

     Garibaldi, with his cowboy's poncho, red shirt and the black ostrich feathers in his wide hat […]

   • 2011, Bruce N. Anderson, Wingtips Under a Bolivian Poncho, page 130:

     It was a gringo in a poncho. It was not really accurate to his suits worn today, but Julia would understand the symbolism that he was adapting to the culture and expectations while far away from home.

2. A similar waterproof garment, today typically of rubber with a hood.
   • 1845, William Jameson, “Botanical Excursion to Salinas, an Indian Village on Chimborazo”, in The London Journal of Botany, volume 4, page 382:

     […] spreading over my bedding an indian-rubber poncho to exclude the rain.

   • 1850, Romance of Modern Travel, page 43:

     I […] took my seat between Juan and Ambrosio, protected from the rain by an India-rubber poncho.

   • 1857, Solomon Nunes Carvalho, Incidents of Travel and Adventure in the Far West, p. 48 (1857), p. 48 (1858):
   • I found it necessary while doing guard to cover myself with my India-rubber poncho, to prevent my clothes from becoming saturated with water.
   • 1859, Randolph Barnes Marcy, The Prairie Traveler, page 39:

     The following list of articles is deemed a sufficient outfit for one man upon a three months’ expedition, viz.: […] 1 gutta percha poncho

   • 1858, “Robbery in a Railway Carriage” (1858 March 29), Edmund Burke ed., Annual Register (collected 1859), March p. 59:

     […] when near the old church in Manchester he was run against by a man whom he supposed to be a drunken man, who was dressed in a poncho overcoat.

   • 1888, William Eleroy Curtis, The capitals of Spanish America, page 505:

     It is about the size of the rubber poncho used in the United States, […]

   • 2001, Michael Rutter, Camping Made Easy, 2nd edition, page 98:

     If you have to hike all day in a poncho, your pants will be wet thigh-high before long (never mind how fast you'll get wet if you have to go through wet brush or grass).

Derived terms

• ponchoed
• poncho liner

Translations

simple garment of cloth

• Catalan: ponxo (ca) m
• Danish: poncho (da) c
• Dutch: poncho (nl) m
• Finnish: poncho (fi)
• French: poncho (fr)
• German: Poncho (de) m
• Greek:

  Ancient Greek: χλαμύς f (khlamús)

• Irish: painseó m
• Italian: poncio (it) m
• Malay: ponco
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: poncho m

  Nynorsk: poncho m

• Polish: ponczo (pl) n, poncho (pl) n
• Portuguese: poncho (pt) m
• Quechua: punchu, unku
• Russian: по́нчо (ru) n (pónčo)
• Spanish: poncho (es) m, jorongo (es) m
• Swedish: poncho (sv) c
• Turkish: panço

waterproof garment with hood

• Catalan: capelina f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雨披 (yǔpī)

• Dutch: poncho (nl) m, regenponcho (nl) m
• Finnish: sadeviitta
• German: Regenponcho m
• Italian: poncio (it) m
• Persian:

  Dari: پَانْچو (pānčō)

• Swedish: regnponcho (sv) c

See also

• ruana
• slicker

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish poncho.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔn.ʃoː/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: pon‧cho

Noun

poncho m (plural poncho's, diminutive ponchootje n)

1. poncho

Derived terms

• regenponcho

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish poncho.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pɔ̃.ʃo/

• Audio (France (Lyon)):

  (file)

Noun

poncho m (plural ponchos)

1. poncho

Further reading

• “poncho”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012

Japanese

Romanization

poncho

1. Rōmaji transcription of ポンチョ (poncho)

Karao

Noun

poncho

1. money collected for a common purpose

Polish

Etymology

Etymology tree

Quechua punchubor.

Spanish ponchoubor.

Polish poncho

Unadapted borrowing from Spanish poncho.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɔn.t͡ʂɔ/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɔnt͡ʂɔ
• Syllabification: pon‧cho

Noun

poncho n (indeclinable)

1. alternative spelling of ponczo

Declension

Declension of poncho

	singular	plural
nominative	poncho	poncha
genitive	poncha	ponch
dative	ponchu	ponchom
accusative	poncho	poncha
instrumental	ponchem	ponchami
locative	ponchu	ponchach
vocative	poncho	poncha

or

Indeclinable.

Further reading

• “poncho”, in Wielki słownik języka polskiego‎^[1] (in Polish), Instytut Języka Polskiego PAN
• “poncho”, in Polish dictionaries at PWN‎^[2] (in Polish)

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish poncho, from Quechua punchu.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /ˈpõ.ʃu/

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpõ.ʃu/

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpõ.ʃu/
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /ˈpõt.ʃu/

• Hyphenation: pon‧cho

Noun

poncho m (plural ponchos)

1. poncho

   Synonym: ponche

Further reading

• “poncho”, in Dicionário Aulete Digital (in Portuguese), Rio de Janeiro: Lexikon Editora Digital, 2008–2026

Romanian

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish poncho.

Noun

poncho n (plural ponchouri)

1. poncho

Declension

	singular		plural
	indefinite	definite	indefinite	definite
nominative-accusative	poncho	ponchoul	ponchouri	ponchourile
genitive-dative	poncho	ponchoului	ponchouri	ponchourilor
vocative	ponchoule		ponchourilor

Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpont͡ʃo/ [ˈpõnʲ.t͡ʃo]
• Rhymes: -ontʃo
• Syllabification: pon‧cho

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Quechua punchu.

Noun

poncho m (plural ponchos)

1. poncho

   Synonym: manta

Descendants

• → Catalan: ponxo
• → Dutch: poncho
• → English: poncho
• → Portuguese: poncho

See also

• ruana

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

poncho

1. first-person singular present indicative of ponchar

Further reading

• “poncho”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8.1, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 15 December 2025