poncho

Meaning

Noun

• A simple garment, made from a rectangle of cloth, with a slit in the middle for the head.
• A similar waterproof garment, today typically of rubber with a hood.

Origin

• Borrowed from Spanish poncho, from Quechua punchu. In sense “rubber rain poncho”, attested 1845, used for non-South American garments in the United States and England from 1850s, popularized by US Western expeditions and military from 1850s, particularly after World War II (1940s).