quipu
or khi·pu
a device consisting of a cord with knotted strings of various colors attached, used by the ancient Peruvians for recording events, keeping accounts, etc.
Origin of quipu
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use quipu in a sentence
All attempts made in modern times to decipher Peruvian quipus have been unsatisfactory in their results.
They explained it to me, and I could, with very little trouble, construe their quipus.
He used a stone pillar or a wooden stick for his notches,—a more permanent record than the knot or the Indian quipus.
An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 | Mary Frances CusackQuite as primitive an arrangement as the North American quipus.
An Illustrated History of Ireland from AD 400 to 1800 | Mary Frances CusackEach chief will send the quipus to his nation, for at the end of this moon we will arouse our enemies by a thunderclap.
Last of the Incas | Gustave Aimard
British Dictionary definitions for quipu
quippu
/ (ˈkiːpuː, ˈkwɪpuː) /
a device of the Incas of Peru used to record information, consisting of an arrangement of variously coloured and knotted cords attached to a base cord
Origin of quipu
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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