piton.
/ˈpɪtəʊ/, U.S. /ˈpɪdoʊ/, West African English /ˈpito/ A West African beer made from fermented maize or rice; maize beer.
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the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > ale or beer > non-malted brews > [noun] > maize beer
pito1670
kaffir beer1837
1670 tr. N. Villaut Relation Coasts Guinee 168 A kind of small beer, which they call poitou [Fr. qu'ils nomment (Poitou)].
1725 J. Houstoun Some Observ. Geogr. 53 Drinking palm-wine or potoe.
1735 J. Atkins Voy. Guinea 111 Beer brewed from Indian Corn, pretty much in use here, called Putto.
1789 R. Norris Mem. 142 Pitto, a kind of beer.
1851 F. E. Forbes Dahomey & Dahomans I. 30 As palm wine is forbidden by the king, the chief drinks are a very palatable malt called pitto, and a sort of burgoo called ah-kah-sar.
1882 R. F. Burton & V. F. Cameron To Gold Coast (1883) I. x. 293 Pitto, hopless beer, the pombe of the East Coast.
1905 R. A. Freeman Golden Pool 213 An old woman that hath drunk too much pittu.
1993 Ottawa Citizen (Nexis) 1 June b5 I'm expected to drink pito, the local [sc. Ghanaian] beer, which is against my religious beliefs, but I do join in.
2004 Jrnl. (Newcastle) (Nexis) 19 Feb. 16 People [sc. in Ghana] drink palm wine and a sort of beer made out of millet called pito.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1670