Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Among the ancient Aztecs, a garden-bed assigned out of the communal land to a particular family.
  • noun A cultivated field, especially a field of maize.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • Miltomatl stands for a 'tomato' from the milpa, which is a polycultural agrosystem with maize and beans as main crops.

    Seeds Aside 2008

  • Can't Post | Private Reply have been fishing in lago aqua milpa N of Tepic for many years and have always liked the area ..

    move to Tepic 2009

  • The milpa, or cornfield, is probably the most important element in the life of the rural Mexican farmer, apart from his family ... read more cuisines culture-customs

    A Mexican Christmas dinner: tamales, turkey, tejocotes 2009

  • Corn, beans and squash: the life cycle of the milpa by

    A Mexican Christmas dinner: tamales, turkey, tejocotes 2009

  • My wife hiked up to see her milpa with its magnificent views of nearby mountains and canyons and was mightily impressed.

    Chamula Power 2009

  • Corn, beans and squash: the life cycle of the milpa

    Squash vine soup with corn dumplings: Sopa de guias con chochoyones 2009

  • My wife hiked up to see her milpa with its magnificent views of nearby mountains and canyons and was mightily impressed.

    Chamula Power 2009

  • The village appears to be small but most people live out in the country near their milpa in small communities.

    Any Chiapas backroad driving experts? 2009

  • When I say I go native in Chiapas I mean eating tamales and visiting indigenous villages and beautiful places, not living in a primitive hut on a mountaintop scratching out a living in my tiny milpa while taking care of 10 kids who work the streets of San Cristóbal 12 hours a day selling chiclets and hoping to survive another day.

    Cost of living in Mexican cities 2010

  • The village appears to be small but most people live out in the country near their milpa in small communities.

    Any Chiapas backroad driving experts? 2009

Comments

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  • When I lived in Mexico I was told by a farmer in the state of Guanajuato that people in that area occasionally unearthed clay figurines when they plowed their milpas before planting -- that their ancestors buried in hopes of a good maize crop. I was told they rebury them so as not to disturb the gods of their ancestors.

    July 24, 2010

  • The word milpa is a Mexican Spanish term meaning "field", and is derived from the Nahuatl word phrase mil-pa "to the field" (Nahuatl mil-li "field" + -pa "towards").

    October 3, 2010