[peen-yah-tuh, pin-yah-; Sp. pee-nyah-tah] 
[-tuh
z; Sp. -tahs] . | (in Mexico and Central America) a gaily decorated crock or papier-mâché figure filled with toys, candy, etc., and suspended from above, esp. during Christmas or birthday festivities, so that children, who are blindfolded, may break it or knock it down with sticks and release the contents. |
| pi·ña·ta (pēn-yä'tə) n. A decorated container filled with candy and toys suspended from a height, intended to be broken by blindfolded children with sticks, and used as part of Christmas and birthday celebrations in certain Latin-American countries or at children's parties. [Spanish, from Italian pignatta, a kind of pot, probably from dialectal pigna, pine cone (from its shape), from Latin pīnea; see pineal.] |