palapa

[puh-lah-puh, pah-lah-pah]

noun

plural

palapas 

1. a simple, thatched-roof dwelling, usually open on the sides.

2. any building resembling this, especially in a resort area, as a restaurant, beachhouse, or the like.

Word History and Origins

Origin of palapa¹

Perhaps < Mexican Spanish: a kind of palm tree

Example Sentences

Upon entry, you’ll find yourself under a cover of leaning palm trees, with a pond that laps up against a palapa bar serving tropical, fruity cocktails to a reggaeton-pop soundtrack that bounces between Sean Paul and Calvin Harris.

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Maria Consuelo Palapa came with her 7-year-old son, Omar, “first to help the church, and to teach the child my traditions” from the Mexican state of Puebla.

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I retreated to one of the palapa huts and, after chasing off a large black tarantula that had somehow sneaked inside and taken up residence above my bed, I let the tropical drone of Calakmul carry me off to sleep.

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Then, back at the hotel, I walked down a long wooden pier to one of the stilted palapa huts that sit on the lagoon and watched the sunset over the mangroves, looking toward the jungle beyond, where the jaguars would soon be making their nightly migrations.

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After dinner, we headed to the base camp where the Jaguar Alliance undertakes its research, a cluster of palapa huts around a small lake within the reserve.

Read more on New York Times