[ruh-mah-duh] 
| an open shelter, often having a dome-shaped thatched roof, and installed esp. on beaches and picnic grounds. |
| ra·ma·da (rə-mä'də) n. Southwestern U.S.
[Spanish, from rama, branch, from Vulgar Latin *rāma, from Latin rāmus; see ramify.] One of the words Spanish contributed to the English of the American Southwest is ramada, a term for an open shelter roofed with brush or branches, and by extension, an open porch or breezeway. Ramada can also mean an arbor of twined branches; this sense illustrates the derivation of the word from Spanish rama, meaning "branch," hence ramada, "arbor, mass of branches." The suffix -ada in Spanish denotes "a place characterized by (something)." Ramada might have remained a relatively obscure regional word were it not for its adoption in the name of a national chain of motels. |