chicha
Noun 1. A type of fermented or unfermented beverage: "Chicha" primarily refers to a traditional beverage, often made from maize (corn), which can be either fermented (alcoholic) or unfermented. It is historically significant in various cultures of Central and South America. 2. A type of tobacco pipe (archaic/obsolete): In some historical contexts, "chicha" has been used to refer to a type of pipe for smoking, similar to a hookah or narghile, where smoke is passed through water. This usage is now rare and largely obsolete.
- Noun (Beverage):
- The community prepared chicha for the festival, using a centuries-old recipe.
- In the Andes, chicha is often made by chewing maize to initiate fermentation.
- Noun (Pipe - archaic): This usage is primarily found in historical texts or specific regional references from past centuries. It is not common in modern English.
- The word "chicha" is often used in anthropological, historical, or culinary contexts when discussing indigenous cultures of the Americas.
- When used without qualification, it typically implies the traditional corn-based beverage.
- Chicha morada: A specific, non-alcoholic Peruvian beverage made from purple corn.
- Chichería: A Spanish term for a place where chicha is made or sold.
- For the beverage: maize beer, corn beer, traditional brew.
- For the pipe (archaic): hookah, water pipe, narghile, shisha.
The primary and active meaning of "chicha" in contemporary English is the traditional beverage. The secondary meaning referring to a pipe is considered an archaic or obsolete usage, primarily of historical interest. In modern contexts, "hookah" is the standard term for such a pipe.
- an oriental tobacco pipe with a long flexible tube connected to a container where the smoke is cooled by passing through water
- a bipolar world with the hookah and Turkish coffee versus hamburgers and Coca Cola