jipijapa

[ hee-pee-hah-pah, -puh ]

noun

1. Also called Panama-hat plant. a tropical American, palmlike plant, Carludovica palmata.
2. a Panama hat made from the young leaves of this plant.

jipijapa

/ ˌhiːpiːˈhɑːpɑː /

noun

1. a palmlike plant, Carludovica palmata, of Central and South America, whose fanlike leaves are bleached for making panama hats: family Cyclanthaceae

Word History and Origins

Origin of jipijapa¹

First recorded in 1855–60; from Latin American Spanish, after Jipijapa, a town in Ecuador

Word History and Origins

Origin of jipijapa¹

American Spanish, after Jipijapa, Ecuador

Example Sentences

Ciudad Radial resident Ricardo Mejia Miller, 47, remembers as a child walking out his front door into mud flats and marshes, where he saw monkeys, raccoons and storks frolicking among the forests of native panama jipijapa trees and mangroves.

From Los Angeles Times

The largest of the smaller towns is probably Jipijapa, in the province of Manabi, which is the centre of the Panama hat industry and had in 1900 an estimated population of 6000, nearly all Indians.

From Project Gutenberg

Jamaican Claudia Nelson weaves baskets from the jipijapa plant as she talks in a beguiling lilt about her life.

From Time Magazine Archive

Hat-making from the “jipijapa” fibre taken from the Carludovica palm is a domestic industry in many localities, and furnishes an article of export.

From Project Gutenberg

J  jejen, gnat. jipijapa, very fine woven straw, used in Panam� hats. jipitera, child’s disease, due to eating dirt.

From Project Gutenberg