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Definitions

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

  1. n. A record-keeping device of the Inca empire consisting of a series of variously colored strings attached to a base rope and knotted so as to encode information, used especially for accounting purposes.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

  1. n. A cord about 2 feet in length, tightly spun from variously colored threads, and having a number of smaller threads attached to it in the form of fringe: used among the ancient Peruvians and elsewhere for recording events, etc. The fringe-like threads were also of different colors and were knotted. The colors denoted sensible objects, as white for silver and yellow for gold, and sometimes also abstract ideas, as white for peace and red for war. They constituted a rude register of certain important facts or events, as of births, deaths, and marriages, the number of the population fit-to bear arms, the quantity of stores in the government magazines, etc.

Wiktionary

  1. n. A recording device, used by the Incas, consisting of intricate knotted cords.

GNU Webster's 1913

  1. n. A contrivance employed by the ancient Peruvians, Mexicans, etc., as a substitute for writing and figures, consisting of a main cord, from which hung at certain distances smaller cords of various colors, each having a special meaning, as silver, gold, corn, soldiers. etc. Single, double, and triple knots were tied in the smaller cords, representing definite numbers. It was chiefly used for arithmetical purposes, and to register important facts and events.

WordNet 3.0

  1. n. calculator consisting of a cord with attached cords; used by ancient Peruvians for calculating and keeping records

Etymologies

  1. Cusco-Collao Quechua khipu ("knot") (via Spanish). (Wiktionary)
  2. American Spanish, from Quechua kipu. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)

Examples

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hypernyms (2)

Words that are more generic or abstract

  1. calculating machine
  1. calculator

same context (10)

Words that are found in similar contexts

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  1. wisdom
  2. saüsàra

reverse dictionary (3)

Words that contain this word in their definition

  1. quipo
  1. knot-writing
  1. quichuan

tags (4)

Free-form, user-generated categorization

  1. peru
  1. record-keeping
  1. wotd
  1. word-of-the-day

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  • avivamagnolia
    Quipu, khipu, or quipo (sometimes called talking knots) were recording devices used in the Inca Empire and its predecessor societies in the Andean region. A quipu usually consisted of colored spun and plied thread or strings from llama or alpaca hair. It also consisted of cotton cords with numeric and other values encoded by knots in a base ten positional system. Quipus may have just a few or up to 2,000 cords.

    Quipu is the Spanish spelling and the most common spelling in English. Khipu (pronounced ˈkʰipu) is the word for "knot" in Cusco Quechua (the native Inca language; the kh is an aspirated k. In most Quechua varieties, the term is kipu. (Wikipedia) Jan 18, 2009

  • chained_bear plural quipus really isn't pronounced the way it looks... Mar 16, 2008

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‘quipu’ has been looked up 3189 times, loved by 1 person, added to 15 lists, commented on 2 times, and has a Scrabble score of 16.