milpa
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of milpa
1835–45, < Mexican Spanish < Nahuatl mīlpan, equivalent to mīl ( li ) cultivated field + -pan locative suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
What attracted us to the milpa was not just this romantic ideal of ancient wisdom.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 18, 2024
Their no-burn version of milpa relies on fertilizers to grow maize in a fixed location, rather than using controlled fire ecology to manage soil fertility across vast forests.
From Salon • Feb. 26, 2024
As soon as his companion woke up, he would take the animal home, where it helps plow the milpa — rows of corn, beans and squash — on his family’s farm.
From New York Times • May 9, 2023
All of the land is communally owned, divvied up by a town council into small plots where residents practice traditional milpa subsistence agriculture rotating maize, beans, chilis, squash, and agave.
From Slate • Dec. 12, 2016
“The milpa is the only system that permits that kind of long-term use.”
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
