Definition of quipu in English:
quipu
noun ˈkwɪːpuːˈkiːpuːˈkēpo͞o
An ancient Inca device for recording information, consisting of variously coloured threads knotted in different ways.
Example sentencesExamples
- I wonder whether there might be lessons in the Incan calendar and quipus.
- Remember that the Incas had no written records and so the quipu played a major role in the administration of the Inca empire since it allowed numerical information to be kept.
- We now know the quipu for just what it was in prehistoric times… simply an instrument for recording numbers.
- These runners carried oral messages, small packages, or quipus (Incan counting devices made from strings with a series of knots in them) from village to village and from the capital to all parts of the empire.
- The Inca, who had no written language, used the quipu - a device made of a series of strings with colored knots - to record census findings and tallies of animal herds and other resources.
- The quipus of the ancient Incas of Peru encoded a wide range of data about people, land, and crops for the government bureaucracy.
Origin
From Quechua khipu 'knot'.