piñata

[pin-yah-tuh, pee-nyah-tah]

noun

plural

piñatas 

1. (in Mexico and Central America) colorful papier-mâché figure or cheerfully decorated crock filled with toys, candy, etc., and suspended from above, especially during Christmas or birthday festivities, so that children, who are blindfolded, may break it or knock it down with sticks and release the contents.

piñata

/ ˌpɪnˈjata /

noun

1. a papier-mâché party decoration filled with sweets, hung up during parties, and struck with a stick until it breaks open

Word History and Origins

Origin of piñata¹

1885–90; < Spanish: literally, pot < Italian pignatta, probably derivative of dial. pigna pinecone (from the pot's shape) < Latin pīnea, noun use of feminine of pīneus of the pine tree; pine ¹, -eous

Word History and Origins

Origin of piñata¹

Spanish, from Italian pignatta , probably from dialect pigna , from Latin pinea pine cone

Example Sentences

He met the woman he calls his esposa, who asked not to be named for fear of retaliation, at the second job he worked in the Piñata District.

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It's like a piñata at the end of a kids party – it doesn't matter how many times you hit it, you're not going to get much more out of it.

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Perry said she felt like a “human pinata.”

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If Perry, in her moments when she is lamenting that her critics have made her into "a human piñata," would like to explore why that might be, I would recommend she read Difficult Conversations, a classic of its kind by Douglas Stone, Bruce Patton and Sheila Heen of the Harvard Negotiation Project.

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It’s like watching hands frantically reach out for candy after a piñata has been broken into — gluttony at its finest.

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