An alternative or variant spelling of a Quechua or Andean term, possibly related to a type of string or record-keeping device.
Possibly from Quechua origins related to 'quipu' (the Incan knotted-string recording system). The exact etymology is uncertain and may be a variant transcription of an indigenous South American word.
This might be a bridge word between Spanish colonizers and indigenous languages—the spelling variation itself reflects the challenge Europeans had trying to write down sounds from languages completely foreign to them.
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