Inca
Americannoun
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a member of any of the dominant groups of South American Indian peoples who established an empire in Peru prior to the Spanish conquest.
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a ruler or member of the royal family in the Incan empire.
noun
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a member of a South American Indian people whose great empire centred on Peru lasted from about 1100 ad to the Spanish conquest in the early 1530s and is famed for its complex culture
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the ruler or king of this empire or any member of his family
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the language of the Incas See also Quechua
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of Inca
1585–95; < Spanish < Quechua inka ruler of the Inca state
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“Crypto use in Venezuela will persist and likely expand in the short term,” said Adam Zarazinski, chief executive officer of the crypto-intelligence firm Inca Digital.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 10, 2026
Fifteen people were injured when two trains crashed head-on Tuesday near the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu, Peru's top tourist attraction, police and train operators said.
From Barron's • Dec. 30, 2025
Visitors can take a series of trains and buses to reach the site, or hike along the the Inca trail with a registered tour operator.
From BBC • Dec. 30, 2025
Machu Picchu, the remains of a 15th Century Inca city, is Peru's most popular tourist destination, and a Unesco world heritage site.
From BBC • Nov. 23, 2025
Spain possessed it, while the Inca Empire did not.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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.
