[huh-kahl, hah-] 
[-kah-leys, -leyz] , -cals. | (in the southwestern U.S. and Mexico) a hut with a thatched roof and walls consisting of thin stakes driven into the ground close together and plastered with mud. |
| ja·cal (hä-käl') n. pl. ja·ca·les (-kä'lās) or ja·cals A thatch-roofed hut made of wattle and daub found in Mexico and the southwest United States. [American Spanish, from Nahuatl xahcalli : xamitl, xam-, xah-, adobe + calli, house.] |