acequia means an irrigation ditch, chiefly with reference to Mexico or the southwestern US. It carries an Arena rating of 1340, earned across 3 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, acequia ranks #478 of 13,223 for Most Beautiful Words, #635 of 13,223 for Most Exacting Words, #2,202 of 13,223 for Most Vivid Words, #2,256 of 13,223 for Most Ingenious Words.
acequia is pronounced /əˈseɪkɪə/.
Why “acequia” is a great word
A community-operated irrigation ditch, typically found in the arid landscapes of northern Mexico and the southwestern United States. From Spanish acequia, from Arabic الساقیة (as-sāqiyah, "the water conduit"), ultimately from Classical Arabic سَقَى (saqā, "to irrigate"). Doublet of sakia. Unlike a "canal"—a broad, often industrial term for a navigable or major agricultural channel—or a "sakia"—the specific water-lifting device that may feed it—an acequia is the communal artery itself, a gravity-fed channel governed by ancient custom. It is the silver thread of meltwater from a distant sierra, the murmured argument over water rights under a cottonwood's shade, and the ancient, patient geometry that turns a desert valley green—a monument not to conquest, but to collective survival etched into the dry earth.
Etymology
From Spanish acequia, from Arabic الساقیة (“water conduit”), ultimately from Classical Arabic سَقَى (saqā, “to irrigate”). Doublet of sakia.
noun
- An irrigation ditch, chiefly with reference to Mexico or the southwestern US.“Las Vegas—“The Meadows” in Spanish—was a hodgepodge of adobe houses, set among rustling cornfields irrigated by a muddy acequia that seeped from the Gallinas River.”
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- qanat 81% match — An underground conduit, between vertical shafts, that leads water from the interior of a hill to villages in the valley vs acequia →
- cienega 81% match — A marshy spring where groundwater bubbles to the surface. vs acequia →
- foggara 81% match — An underground conduit, between vertical shafts, that leads water from the interior of a hill to villages in the valley; a qanat. vs acequia →
- ejido 81% match — A Mexican cooperative farm. vs acequia →
- karez 80% match — A qanat, in parts of central southern Asia. vs acequia →
- noria 80% match — A treadwheel with attached buckets, used to raise and deposit water. vs acequia →
- oasis 78% match — A spring of fresh water, surrounded by a fertile region of vegetation, in a desert. vs acequia →
- sebil 78% match — A fountain, a small structure in a Muslim area where water is freely dispensed to members of the public. vs acequia →