puna

American  

[poo-nah] / ˈpu nɑ /

noun

1. a high, cold, arid plateau, as in the Peruvian Andes.

2. Pathology. altitude sickness.

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puna British  

/ ˈpuna /

noun

1. a high cold dry plateau, esp in the Andes

2. another name for mountain sickness

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Etymology

Origin of puna

First recorded in 1605–15; from South American Spanish, from Quechua púna

Example Sentences

Step 1: Deep wells or puna are cleaned of dirt and debris so the sea water that enters them through underground channels is clean and conducive to salt making.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 3, 2024

On the puna, the more-than-two-mile-high sierra, the saffron moss took a little spring rain and greened.

From Time Magazine Archive

The symptoms are described by many South American travellers; the attack of them is there, among other names, called the puna.

From The Art of Travel Shifts and Contrivances Available in Wild Countries by Galton, Francis, Sir

When these duties did not occupy them, or when they were not together bathing in the river or at the via puna, they sat side by side on their paepaes in meditation.

From White Shadows in the South Seas by O'Brien, Frederick

The short breathing from the rarefied atmosphere is called by the Chilenos "puna;" and they have most ridiculous notions concerning its origin.

From The Voyage of the Beagle by Darwin, Charles