Word.ws English Dictionary

puna

puna noun: an alpine biological community in the central portion of the Andes in which short, coarse grass supports a Native American population.

Noun (1)

puna (plural punas)

  1. An alpine biological community in the central portion of the Andes in which short, coarse grass supports a Native American population.
    • The overwhelming majority of maca roots are dried after harvest. In the cold, dry atmosphere of the puna the dried roots remain edible for several years. A minor proportion of the freshly harvested roots are roasted in huatias, earthen ovens […]2009, M. Hermann, T. Bernet, The transition of maca from neglect to market prominence, page 18

Noun (2) capitalized: Puna

Puna (plural Punas)

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of puna.

Proper noun (1) capitalized: Puna

Puna

  1. Altiplano, a region that covers part of Bolivia, Peru, and the northern end of Argentina and Chile.

Proper noun (2) capitalized: Puna

Puna

  1. A district in the east-southeast portion of the island of Hawaii in the state of Hawaii, United States.

Proper noun (3) capitalized: Puna

Puna

  1. An island off the coast of southern Ecuador.

Proper noun (4) capitalized: Puna

Puna

  1. A village in Punjab, Pakistan.

Proper noun (5) capitalized: Puna

Puna

  1. (alternative) Alternative spelling of Poona, former name of Pune: a major city and district of Maharashtra, India.

Forms of puna

pluralpunas
alternative formPuna
pluralPunas

Origin of puna

From Spanish puna, from Quechua puna.

From Hawaiian puna.

From Spanish Puná.

Words formed from puna

  • puna canastero
  • puna ground tyrant
  • puna ibis
  • puna miner
  • puna plover
  • puna snipe
  • puna tapaculo
  • puna teal
  • puna thistletail
  • puna tinamou
  • puna yellow finch

Phrases with puna

Words that rhyme with puna

5 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about puna

What does puna mean?
Puna means an alpine biological community in the central portion of the Andes in which short, coarse grass supports a Native American population.
What part of speech is puna?
Puna can be a noun or a proper noun.
What is the plural of puna?
The plural of puna is punas.

Words near puna in the dictionary

  1. Pumé
  2. pun
  3. pun intended
  4. pun-off
  5. pun-offs
  6. puna
  7. puna tinamou
  8. puna tinamous
  9. punaani
  10. punaany
  11. punacious

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: puna (page history and authors); Puna (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-puna.wav.

Cite this entry: “puna.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/puna. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.