acequia

American  

[uh-sey-kyuh, ah-se-kyah] / əˈseɪ kjə, ɑˈsɛ kjɑ /

noun

Southwestern U.S.

acequias plural

1. an irrigation ditch.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• acequias
  plural

Etymology

Origin of acequia

1835–45, < Spanish < Arabic al-sāqiyah the irrigation ditch

Explanation

An acequia is a trench that's used to irrigate farmland. Acequias are common throughout the Americas, from Argentina to Colorado. The Spanish word acequia has an Arabic root, al-sāqiyah, "one that bears water." In parts of Mexico and Spain, irrigation canals have long been known as acequias. These watercourses, and the Spanish word for them, spread into parts of the U.S. that were once Spanish colonies. Some acequias still functioning today in Colorado and New Mexico were dug more than 400 years ago.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

acequia acequias

He turned a wheel that opened an acequia and flooded the field with clear, cold water.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2024

Once an acequia commissioner and now a U.S. congresswoman, Leger Fernández knows how hard it is to tell farmers they won’t get all the water they need — or maybe none at all.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 18, 2021

“There was always a sense of accomplishment but now what we’re witnessing is we can’t do it all the time anymore because we don’t have the water,” she said during a tour with acequia officials.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 18, 2021

He said that bickering over acequia flows had intensified as farmers vied for increasingly scarce irrigation water.

From New York Times ● Jul. 13, 2021

He came to where I stood directing the waters of the acequia down the rows of corn.

From "Bless Me, Ultima" by Rudolfo Anaya

We passed over acequias — a system of communal irrigation ditches originating with the Moors that New Mexico’s farmers have used for centuries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2024

Growing up in New Mexico, Hayes-Rich played and swam in centuries-old irrigation systems known as acequias, built by Indigenous Pueblo people and Spanish settlers, that flow beneath the U.S.

From Science Magazine ● Sep. 19, 2023

"I've lived here all my life. I've never seen it run dry," said Theresa Dunworth, an accountant who works with a farm group in the South Valley where centuries-old "acequias" or channels irrigate fields.

From Reuters ● Nov. 1, 2022

In recent decades, San Antonio’s relatively small, walkable downtown — due in part to streets that trace the path of Spanish colonial-era irrigation canals called acequias — has been outpaced by suburban growth and development.

From New York Times ● Oct. 5, 2021

Clear, sparkling water rippled in tiny acequias through the front yards of each, and so furnished the moisture needed for the life of various little shrubs and flowering plants.

From The Deserter by King, Charles