ramada

(rə-mäˈdə)

noun
Southwestern U.S.

1. a. An open or semienclosed shelter roofed with brush or branches, designed especially to provide shade.
   b. An open porch or breezeway.
2. An arbor or trellis made of twined branches.

Regional Note: One of the words Spanish contributed to the English of the American Southwest is ramada, a term for an open shelter roofed with brush or branches, and by extension, an open porch or breezeway. Ramada can also mean an arbor of twined branches; this sense illustrates the derivation of the word from Spanish rama, meaning “branch,” hence ramada, “arbor, mass of branches.” The suffix -ada in Spanish denotes “a place characterized by (something).” Ramada might have remained a relatively obscure regional word were it not for its adoption in the name of a national chain of motels.