ayahuasca

See also: Ayahuasca

English

Etymology

From Spanish ayahuasca, from Quechua ayawaska, from aya (“spirit, ancestor”) + waska (“vine”). First use appears c. 1870. See cite below.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌaɪəˈwɑːskə/

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Noun

ayahuasca (usually uncountable, plural ayahuascas)

1. A giant vine native to South America (especially Banisteriopsis caapi), noted for its psychotropic properties.
2. Any of various psychoactive infusions or decoctions prepared from this vine.

   Synonym: yage

   • 1870, James Orton, The Andes and the Amazon, Or, Across the Continent of South America, page 171:

     They make use of a narcotic drink called Ayahuasca, which produces effects similar to those of opium.

   • 2004, Martin Torgoff, “Nouveau Psychedelia”, in Can’t Find My Way Home: America in the Great Stoned Age, 1945–2000, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 414:

     As the Amazon forest people would take ayahuasca and enter into that place of Group Mind where they would make decisions for the tribe, the psychedelic shamanic acts that McKenna was promulgating would involve the experience of ecstasy and the contemplation of wholeness.

   • 2020, Emily Segal, Mercury Retrograde, New York: Deluge Books, →ISBN:

     Like many young women in that cultural era, she was excited to explain ayahuasca, and informed me that her appointment was scheduled for next week, when she would be leaving New York to visit family in Rio.

Translations

Banisteriopsis caapi, a vine of South America

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 死藤 (sǐténg)

• Czech: ayahuasca f
• German: Ayahuasca n
• Japanese: アヤワスカ (ayawasuka)
• Portuguese: ayahuasca (pt) f, iagê m

psychoactive infusions made from the ayahuasca vine

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 死藤水 (sǐténgshuǐ)

• Czech: ayahuasca f
• German: Ayahuasca n
• Japanese: アヤワスカ (ayawasuka)
• Portuguese: ayahuasca (pt) f, daime (pt) m
• Russian: аяуа́ска (ru) f (ajauáska)

Czech

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [ˈajavaska]

Noun

ayahuasca f

1. ayahuasca

Declension

Declension of ayahuasca (hard feminine reducible)

	singular	plural
nominative	ayahuasca	ayahuascy, ayahuasky
genitive	ayahuascy, ayahuasky	ayahuasek
dative	ayahuasce	ayahuascám, ayahuaskám
accusative	ayahuascu, ayahuasku	ayahuascy, ayahuasky
vocative	ayahuasco, ayahuasko	ayahuascy, ayahuasky
locative	ayahuasce	ayahuascách, ayahuaskách
instrumental	ayahuascou, ayahuaskou	ayahuascami, ayahuaskami

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ja.was.ka/

Noun

ayahuasca m (uncountable)

1. ayahuasca

Portuguese

Pronunciation

 

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /aj.aˈwas.kɐ/ [aɪ̯.aˈwas.kɐ]

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /aj.aˈwas.kɐ/ [aɪ̯.aˈwas.kɐ]
  • (Rio de Janeiro) IPA^(key): /aj.aˈwaʃ.kɐ/ [aɪ̯.aˈwaʃ.kɐ]
  • (Southern Brazil) IPA^(key): /aj.aˈwas.ka/ [aɪ̯.aˈwas.ka]

Noun

ayahuasca f (plural ayahuascas)

1. ayahuasca (Banisteriopsis caapi, a vine of South America)

   Synonym: iagê

2. ayahuasca (psychoactive infusion made from the ayahuasca vine)

   Synonym: daime

Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Quechua ayawaska.

Pronunciation

 

• IPA^(key): /aʝaˈwaska/ [a.ʝaˈwas.ka]

• IPA^(key): (everywhere but Argentina and Uruguay) /aʝaˈwaska/ [a.ʝaˈwas.ka]
• IPA^(key): (Buenos Aires and environs) /aʃaˈwaska/ [a.ʃaˈwas.ka]
• IPA^(key): (elsewhere in Argentina and Uruguay) /aʒaˈwaska/ [a.ʒaˈwas.ka]

• Rhymes: -aska
• Syllabification: a‧ya‧huas‧ca

Noun

ayahuasca f (plural ayahuascas)

1. ayahuasca
2. a psychotropic concoction prepared from said vine

Derived terms

• ayahuasquero

 

Descendants

• → English: ayahuasca

Further reading

• “ayahuasca”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10