punji stake

[ poon-jee, puhn- ]

noun

1. a sharp bamboo stake concealed in high grass at an angle so as to gash the feet and legs of enemy soldiers and often coated with excrement so as to cause an infected wound.

Word History and Origins

Origin of punji stake¹

First recorded in 1870–75; earlier punjee, panja, perhaps from Chingpaw, a Tibeto-Burman language of the Kachins of northeastern Myanmar (Burma) and adjacent areas of India and China; the word is first attested in an account of these people

Example Sentences

The President stepped onto a punji stake of illogic when he proclaimed that "ordering the immediate withdrawal of all American forces would have been a popular and easy course to follow" at the time he took office.

From Time Magazine Archive