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pa·la·pa

(pə-läpə)

1. An open-sided dwelling with a thatched roof made of dried palm leaves.

2. A structure, such as a bar or restaurant in a tropical resort, that is open-sided and thatched with palm leaves.

[Mexican Spanish, from regional Mexican Spanish (Michoacán) palapa, cohune palm, fronds of cohune palm used as a building material, from a Malayo-Polynesian source (transmitted via trans-Pacific trade in the mercantile era) such as Tagalog palapa, midrib of a banana leaf or large palm frond, from Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *palaqpaq, midrib of a coconut frond.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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