a shrub, Erythroxylon coca, native to the Andes, having simple, alternate leaves and small yellowish flowers.
the dried leaves of this shrub, which are chewed for their stimulant properties and which yield cocaine and other alkaloids.
either of two shrubs, Erythroxylon coca or E. truxiuense, native to the Andes: family Erythroxylaceae
the dried leaves of these shrubs and related plants, which contain cocaine and are chewed by the peoples of the Andes for their stimulating effects
First recorded in 1610–20; from Spanish, from Quechua kuka
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Paz's election brought an end to two decades of socialist rule launched by Indigenous coca farmer Evo Morales in the mid-2000s.
From Barron's • May 20, 2026
Colombia will also restart fumigation to destroy coca crops, a practice halted since 2015 and strongly opposed by Petro as a senator.
From Barron's • Feb. 2, 2026
He said negotiations were ongoing in southern Colombia, "where the greatest reduction in coca leaf cultivation has occurred" and "where the homicide rate in Colombia has fallen the most."
From BBC • Jan. 9, 2026
Venezuela hardly grows any coca, the leaf from which cocaine is made, and has few laboratories.
From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 21, 2025
“But, don’t you see, cocoa-nut leaf and coca leaf are different things?”
From Real Gold A Story of Adventure by Fenn, George Manville
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
