(a loanword from Spanish)
a unit for measuring length, a fathom; sometimes used in place of the indigenous measure quahuitl (stick); also the distance between the hands when the arms were extended (like a braza); a tlalquahuitl or quahuitl may also have been 2.5 varas (or so attested in Azcapotzalco in 1738)
huel ixquich ompohuali brasadas inic oriente a poniente = measuring a full 40 brazas from east to west; it measured 20 brazadas on the other side; the parcel was sold to a Spaniard for 10 pesos so that the money could be spent on masses inthe church; the brazada may have measured 2.5 varas (Azcapotzalco, 1738)
[Source: Beyond the Codices, eds. Arthur J.O. Anderson, Frances Berdan, and James Lockhart (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976), Doc. 17; see pp. 100–109.]
In a document from Xochimilco from the year 1568, Lockhart found the use of nehuitçā three times. In the surrounding documentation it was called a braza (explained as being "de las que se miden del pie a la mano") and a vara ("varas de las antiguas").
ompohuali brasadas inic Oriente a poniente ahu inic patlahuac Quipie tzenpohuali brasadas de norte a sur = 40 brazas from east to west, and in width it measures 20 brazas from north to south (Azcapotzalco, 1738)
inic Oriente ihuan poniente quipix onpohuali brasadas = from east to west it measured 40 brazas (Azcapotzalco, 1738)
inic patlahuac Oquipix de norte a Sur Senpohuali brasadas moCuaxohnamiqui inic norte ica intlal tlaxilacaleque Sn Simon poxtlan ahu inic Sur moCuaxohnamique ica intlal Sto Domingo huexotitlan tlaXilacaleque = in width it measured from north to south 20 brazas. It abuts on the north on lands of the citizens of the district of San Simón Pochtlan, and on the south it abuts on the lands of the citizens of the district of Santo Domingo Huexotitlan. (Azcapotzalco, 1738)