poncho

[ pon-choh ]
See synonyms for poncho on Thesaurus.com
noun,plural pon·chos.
  1. a blanketlike cloak with a hole in the center to admit the head, originating in South America, now often worn as a raincoat.

Origin of poncho

1
First recorded in 1710–20; from Latin American Spanish: further origin uncertain; perhaps from Araucanian pontho “woolen fabric”; perhaps from Old Spanish poncho “a mantle or cloak”; perhaps a back formation from ponchón “lazy, sluggish”; perhaps an alteration of unrecorded pochón, an augmentative of pocho “pale, faded,” and probably akin to pachón “phlegmatic, sluggish”

Other words from poncho

  • ponchoed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use poncho in a sentence

  • A string of pack llamas swung grunting by under their loads, driven by ponchoed cholos.

    The Tempering | Charles Neville Buck

British Dictionary definitions for poncho

poncho

/ (ˈpɒntʃəʊ) /


nounplural -chos
  1. a cloak of a kind originally worn in South America, made of a rectangular or circular piece of cloth, esp wool, with a hole in the middle to put the head through

Origin of poncho

1
C18: from American Spanish, from Araucanian pantho woollen material

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012