oca

American  

[oh-kuh] / ˈoʊ kə /

Or oka

noun

ocas plural

1. a wood sorrel, Oxalis tuberosa, of the Andes, cultivated in South America for its edible tubers.

2. a tuber of this plant.

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oca British  

/ ˈəʊkə /

noun

1. any of various South American herbaceous plants of the genus Oxalis, cultivated for their edible tubers: family Oxalidaceae

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• ocas
  plural

Etymology

Origin of oca

1595–1605; < Spanish < Quechua oqa

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

oca

Each house, or oca, is named for its “owner” and architect—in this case, a man named Kwakway.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 19, 2022

Ocol haa, syncopated to ocola, and even oca, was the usual term for Christian baptism.

From The Maya Chronicles Brinton's Library Of Aboriginal American Literature, Number 1 by Brinton, Daniel Garrison

They saw here a vegetable of the potato kind called oca.

From Oregon and Eldorado or, Romance of the Rivers by Bulfinch, Thomas

Oello and her husband did not know what they said, and went on broiling the fish and baking the potatoes, and the mashua, and the oca, and the ulloco.

From Christmas Eve and Christmas Day Ten Christmas stories by Hale, Edward E.

The oca is cultivated in the fields of Mexico, but only succeeds in the warmer districts.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by Simmonds, P. L.