poncho

See also: Poncho and ponchó

English

Brazilian ex-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

• IPA^(key): /ˈpɒn.tʃəʊ/
• IPA^(key): /ˈpɑn.tʃoʊ/

• 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”, The London Journal of Botany, Volume 4, p. 382:

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

   • 1850, Romance of Modern Travel, p. 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, p. 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, p. 505:

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

   • 2001, Michael Rutter, Camping Made Easy, 2nd ed., 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).

Translations

simple garment of cloth

• Catalan: ponxo m
• Finnish: poncho (fi)
• French: poncho (fr)
• Irish: painseó m
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Malay: ponco
• Portuguese: poncho (pt) m
• Quechua: punchu, unku
• Spanish: poncho (es) m

waterproof garment with hood

• Catalan: capelina f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雨披 (yǔpī)

• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Finnish: sadeviitta

Related terms

• ruana
• slicker

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French

Noun

poncho m (plural ponchos)

1. poncho

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Japanese

Romanization

poncho

1. Rōmaji transcription of ポンチョ

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Karao

Noun

poncho

1. money collected for a common purpose

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Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish, from Quechua punchu.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpõʃu/

Noun

poncho m (plural s)

1. poncho

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Spanish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈpont͡ʃo/ [ˈpõnʲ.t͡ʃo]

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Quechua punchu.

Noun

poncho m (plural ponchos)

1. poncho

See also

• ruana

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

poncho

1. First-person singular (yo) present indicative form of ponchar.

Further reading

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