milpa Hear it!

milpa definition

☆ milpa (mil′pə)

noun

Chiefly Dial. a small tract of arable land cleared from a forest area; specif., in Mexico and Central America, such a tract that is cultivated until the land is exhausted, then abandoned

Etymology: MexSp (< Nahuatl), cornfield

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2009 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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