Plural of fanega, a unit of land measurement used historically in Spain and Spanish America, equivalent to roughly 1.6 acres.
From Spanish fanega, derived from Arabic faníqa, meaning a measure of grain or land. The term entered European languages through medieval Spanish during the Islamic occupation of Iberia, and the -das ending is a Spanish plural feminine form.
This word survived centuries because it was literally written on property deeds across Spanish colonies—imagine if we still measured land in 'virgins' or 'plowdays' instead of acres, and you get why farmers from Mexico to the Philippines would know this unit by heart.
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