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.
The coca growers' leader, who served three terms between 2006 and 2019, has been in hiding in his central Bolivian stronghold of Chapare since late 2024.
From Barron's • Feb. 6, 2026
And Jose Abril, a farmer who has grown coca but fled amid the violence, said the state failed to make the sustained investments to persuade farmers to switch crops.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 2, 2026
Some have even said the water looks like "coca cola".
From BBC • Jun. 29, 2025
Now, after a decades-long struggle by Indigenous movements, boxes of coca tea may finally appear on supermarket shelves near you.
From Salon • Mar. 9, 2025
It was believed that any business undertaken without the benediction of coca leaves could not prosper; and to the shrub itself worship was rendered.
From Travels in Peru, on the Coast, in the Sierra, Across the Cordilleras and the Andes, into the Primeval Forests by Ross, Thomasina
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.
