to break up dirt clods; or, to crumble something (see Molina)
IPAspelling:
pɑyɑːnɑ
Alonso de Molina:
payana. nitla. (pret. onitlapayan.) quebrantar terrones, o desmenuzar algo. Alonso de Molina, Vocabulario en lengua castellana y mexicana y mexicana y castellana, 1571, part 2, Nahuatl to Spanish, f. 79r. col. 1. Thanks to Joe Campbell for providing the transcription.
Frances Karttunen:
PAYĀN(A) vrefl,vt for something to get pulverized; to break up, crumble, grind something / se muele (T), quebrantar terrones o desmenuzar algo (M).
PAYĀNALŌ nonact. PAYĀN(A). Frances Karttunen, An Analytical Dictionary of Nahuatl (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1992), 190.