bombilla

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/bɒmˈbiː(j)ə//boʊmˈbiʃə/

noun

A straw, often made of metal, ending in a filter and used for drinking maté.

OriginRioplatense Spanish bombilla →
Scrabble 14
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Meanings

nounbombilla (plural bombillas)

plural bombillas

  1. A straw, often made of metal, ending in a filter and used for drinking maté.

    The maté is then filled with yerva, after the bombilla has been placed in position. The bombilla is literally “a little pump,” that is, a sucking tube, ending in a perforated bulb, which performs the office of the perforated diaphragm in our teapot spouts.

    1856 July–October, The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal, volume IV, A. and C. Black, page 194

Origin

  1. Rioplatense Spanishbombilla“straw”
  2. Englishbombilla

Borrowed from Rioplatense Spanish bombilla (“straw”, literally “little pump”).

More words from Rioplatense Spanish

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

bombilla. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bombilla

MLA

“bombilla.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bombilla. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bombilla,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bombilla.

Source: bombilla on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.