chiripa

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a rectangular woolen garment wrapped in various ways around the hips and thighs and tucked into a belt, formerly worn by gauchos and Indigenous men in southern South America

   The gaucho wrapped a scarlet chiripa around his waist before mounting his horse.

Borrowed from American Spanish chiripa, from Quechua chiripak, literally 'for the cold,' formed from chiri, 'cold,' and -pak, 'for.' Nineteenth-century English travel writing also shows altered spellings such as chilipa.

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