piñata
/pɪnˈjɑː.tə/
piñata noun: a doll or other decorated container that is filled with candy and hit with a hammer or a stick by blindfolded children during birthday parties or other celebrations until the candy falls out.
Noun
piñata (plural piñatas)
- A doll or other decorated container that is filled with candy and hit with a hammer or a stick by blindfolded children during birthday parties or other celebrations until the candy falls out.
- Something which is repeatedly hit or damaged over a period of time.
- […] Wiesbaden, largely crippled, nevertheless refuses to sink for the moment, and will become something of a steel piñata for passing British capital ships over the next few hours whilst throwing the odd torpedo back in retaliation.2020 August 5, Drachinifel, 3:29 from the start, in The Battle of Jutland - Clash of the Titans - Part 2 (Jellicoe vs Scheer), archived from the original on 12 Sep 2022
- When it opened, it prompted rapturous reviews akin to what, many years later, greeted Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Bilbao. But the building soon became a piñata for everything wrong with modern architecture.2024 October 16, Michael Kimmelman, “Paul Rudolph Was an Architectural Star. Now He’s a Cautionary Tale.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
Verb
piñata (third-person singular simple present piñatas, present participle piñataing, simple past and past participle piñataed)
piñata meaning in Bengali, Telugu, Kannada and Arabic
piñata in Bengali
- candy-filled container that is hit with a stick
- পিন্যাতা pinnata
piñata in Telugu
- candy-filled container that is hit with a stick
- పిన్యాత pinyāta, పిఞాత piñāta
piñata in Kannada
- candy-filled container that is hit with a stick
- ಪಿನ್ಯಾತ pinyāta, ಪಿಞಾತ piñāta
piñata in Arabic
- candy-filled container that is hit with a stick
- پِينْيَاتَا pīnyātā, پِنْيَاتَا pinyātā, بِينْيَاتَا bīnyātā
More languagesFewer languages
- piñata in Thai
- ปีญาตา
Forms of piñata
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | piñatas |
| alternative form | pinata |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | piñatas |
| present participle | piñataing |
| past participle | piñataed |
| past | piñataed |
Origin of piñata
Unadapted borrowing from Mexican Spanish piñata, from piña (“pinecone”), from Latin pinea, because its paper cover (on traditional making) resembles one. Alternatively from Spanish via Italian pignatta (“clay pot”), from a Chinese custom allegedly introduced by Marco Polo.
Questions about piñata
- What does piñata mean?
- Piñata means a doll or other decorated container that is filled with candy and hit with a hammer or a stick by blindfolded children during birthday parties or other celebrations until the candy falls out.
- What is piñata in Bengali?
- Piñata in Bengali is পিন্যাতা (pinnata). See Piñata meaning in Bengali.
- What part of speech is piñata?
- Piñata can be a noun or a verb.
- How do you pronounce piñata?
- Piñata is pronounced /pɪnˈjɑː.tə/.
- What is the plural of piñata?
- The plural of piñata is piñatas.
Words near piñata in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: piñata (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-piñata.wav.
Cite this entry: “piñata.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pi%C3%B1ata. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.