Quechua

American  

[kech-uh-wah, kech-wuh] / ˈkɛtʃ ə wɑ, ˈkɛtʃ wə /

Also Kechua,

noun

Quechuas plural

1. the language of the Incan civilization, presently spoken by about 8 million people in Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.

2. a member of an Indigenous people of Peru speaking Quechua.

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adjective

1. of or relating to the Quechua or their language; Quechuan.

Quechua British  

/ ˈkɛtʃwə /

noun

1. a member of any of a group of South American Indian peoples of the Andes, including the Incas

2. the language or family of languages spoken by these peoples, possibly distantly related to the Tupï-Guarani family

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• Quechuan
  adjective

Inflected Forms

noun

• Quechuas
  plural
• Quechua
  plural

Etymology

Origin of Quechua

First recorded in 1680–90; from Spanish Quechua, Quichua, possibly from Quechua qichwa, qhichwa “temperate valley, people who live in a temperate valley”; possibly from Quechua kkechúwa “robber, plunderer”

Example Sentences

Bolivia is a country of 12 million people, many of them members of the Aymara and Quechua indigenous groups living in the high mountains.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 21, 2026

“Pancho started giving us these very specific, not only slang, but also Quechua words and things that would make it feel very specifically Ecuadorean,” Cordova says.

From Los Angeles Times • Aug. 20, 2025

Quechua is the name for a family of Indigenous languages that spread from Peru to other neighboring countries.

From Science Daily • May 13, 2024

María Antonia de Paz y Figueroa, more commonly known by her Quechua name of “Mama Antula,” was born in 1730 into a wealthy family in Santiago del Estero, a province north of Buenos Aires.

From Seattle Times • Feb. 9, 2024

Chest, proportions of, in soldiers and sailors; large, of the Quechua and Aymara Indians.

From The Descent of Man by Darwin, Charles