coca
pronunciation
How to pronounce coca in British English:
UK [ˈkəʊkə]
How to pronounce coca in American English:
US [ˈkoʊkə]
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- Noun:
- a South American shrub whose leaves are chewed by natives of the Andes; a source of cocaine
- dried leaves of the coca plant (and related plants that also contain cocaine); chewed by Andean people for their simulating effect
Word Origin
- coca (n.)
- South American plant, 1570s, from Spanish coca, from Quechua cuca, which is perhaps ultimately from Aymara, a native language of Bolivia.
Example
- 1. At first sight , the coca figures are equally encouraging .
- 2. Traditional uses of coca are not addictive and are as much part of andean culture as a cuppa is in britain or beer in texas .
- 3. Most prominently , there was coca-cola whose original 19th century formula used unaltered coca leaves .
- 4. The un report found that peru may have passed colombia as the world 's top coca grower last year .
- 5. Lying between colombia 's coca bushes and mexico 's cocaine traffickers , central america is a choke point on the drugs trail .