cocaine (English)
Where does "cocaine" come from?
The word cocaine is derived from the term 'coca,' which originates from the Quechua word 'kuka' used for the native South American plant. By the late 19th century, English speakers appended the chemical suffix '-ine' to 'coca' to identify the specific alkaloid powder extracted from the leaves. This linguistic journey highlights the drug's transition from an indigenous Andean botanical resource to a chemically isolated substance of global medical and social significance.
Full etymology tree
- cocaine (English), 'An addictive drug derived from coca (Erythroxylum) or prepared synthetically, used sometimes medicinally as a local anesthetic and, often illegally, as a stimulant.'
- derived coca (Spanish), 'coca (any of the four cultivated plants which belong to the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America)'
- borrowed kuka (Aymara)
- borrowed koka (Quechua)
- derived coca (Spanish), 'coca (any of the four cultivated plants which belong to the family Erythroxylaceae, native to western South America)'
Direct ancestors
Updated June 2026
Etymology data from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · About Miraris