Ayahuasca meaning: where the word comes from, how to say it, and its other names

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Ayahuasca is a word many people read long before they hear it. It looks unfamiliar, it is spelled several ways, and it travels with a crowd of other names. This guide covers the word only: what it means, where it came from, how dictionaries pronounce it and what other peoples and groups call the same drink. It is a language and history piece. It gives no information on use, preparation or sourcing.

For what ayahuasca actually is, its chemistry and its contested history, see what is ayahuasca. Every pronunciation and date below comes from a dictionary or paper we opened while writing, and where sources disagree we say so.

Ayahuasca meaning: what does the word mean?

In English dictionaries, ayahuasca names a psychoactive drink from South America. Merriam-Webster defines it as a psychoactive beverage containing dimethyltryptamine (DMT) (Merriam-Webster, ayahuasca). Cambridge calls it a drug made from South American plants, used in some religious ceremonies (Cambridge, ayahuasca). Some entries also use the word for the vine the drink is named after, which tells you the word can mean the plant as well as the brew. Evidence: established.

The literal meaning comes from Quechua, an Indigenous language that a 2023 history describes as the lingua franca of part of the Amazon (Lima and Marinho, 2023). Dictionary.com gives the origin as Latin American Spanish (Ecuador, Peru), from Quechua aya, “dead”, and huasca, “rope” (Dictionary.com, ayahuasca). Webster’s New World, quoted on Collins, gives “literally, vine of the dead”, from aya, “cadaver”, and huasca, “vine” (Collins, ayahuasca). Evidence: established that dictionaries give this origin.

Is it “vine of the dead” or “vine of the soul”?

Both readings appear, because aya can be glossed in more than one way. A 2023 review says the Quechua aya and waska translate to “spirit” or “soul” and “vine” or “rope”, giving names like “the vine of the soul or dead” (Ruffell et al., 2023). A 2024 review glosses aya as “soul” or “dead spirit” and offers both “vine of the souls” and “vine of the dead” (dos Santos and Hallak, 2024). A 2023 history paper gives only “vine of the dead” (Lima and Marinho, 2023). Evidence: established that both translations are in print.

Which is “right” is a question of emphasis rather than error. The dictionaries we read lean towards death (“dead”, “cadaver”), and the research reviews add “spirit” and “soul”. Neither English phrase is a perfect fit for a Quechua idea. Evidence: unresolved. We did not consult a Quechua dictionary or a Quechua speaker, so we report the glosses and do not choose between them.

Is the origin certain?

Not completely. Collins carries three entries with three levels of confidence. Its British entry says only “C20: from Quechua”. The Webster’s New World entry gives the full “vine of the dead” breakdown. A third entry, from Random House material, traces the word to American Spanish and marks its further origin as uncertain (Collins, ayahuasca). Merriam-Webster also stops at American Spanish (Merriam-Webster, ayahuasca). Evidence: established that the dictionaries differ.

The dates differ too. Merriam-Webster gives the first known use of ayahuasca in English as 1870, while the Collins British entry places it in the 20th century (Merriam-Webster, ayahuasca; Collins, ayahuasca). Merriam-Webster’s date is the more specific claim, but neither page shows the text behind it. Evidence: unresolved.

How do you pronounce ayahuasca?

Say it in four beats, with the stress on the third: eye-yuh-WAH-skuh. The “hua” is not “hoo-ah”: every dictionary below gives it a “w” sound. The first syllable can be “eye” or “ah”, and both are listed as correct.

Read together, the entries agree on the important parts: the stress on “WAH”, the “w” sound, and a soft “skuh” or “skah” ending. The Webster’s New World form, with full “ah” vowels, sounds closest to how the word is spelled. Merriam-Webster’s medical entry also lists a rare variant spelling, ayahuasco (Merriam-Webster, ayahuasca). We did not open a Canadian dictionary, so we cannot say which form Canadian references prefer. Evidence: established for what the dictionaries print.

What are the other names for ayahuasca?

Ayahuasca is only one name, and it is the Quechua one. A 2023 history of early ayahuasca research notes that Indigenous peoples of the Amazon know the drink by other names and prepare it in different ways. It warns that the single term now popular in science “does not represent the diversity” of uses and meanings that Indigenous peoples have given it (Lima and Marinho, 2023). Evidence: established.

Two caveats. The table pairs each name with the group the sources name; many names are shared across neighbouring peoples, and spellings vary. The Asháninka “kamarampi” and the “camaranti” in a 2026 Shipibo study may be the same word in different spellings; we could not confirm that (Favaron et al., 2026). Evidence: established for the names; the pairings are the sources’ own.

What does yagé mean, and how do you say it?

Yagé is the name you will meet most in Colombian sources and in older English writing. Merriam-Webster defines yage simply as ayahuasca, lists the spellings yagé, yaje and yajé, and traces it to American Spanish yagé, yajé or yahé, “perhaps borrowed from a language in the Tukanoan family”, spoken in southeastern Colombia and nearby parts of Peru, Ecuador and Brazil. It dates the first known English use to 1886 (Merriam-Webster, yage). Evidence: established for the dictionary entry.

Dictionary.com instead gives “first recorded in 1920–25”, from Latin American Spanish of Colombia and Ecuador, “apparently from an Indigenous language of southeastern Colombia or northeastern Peru” (Dictionary.com, yage). Collins’ British entry says “C20: from Colombian Spanish” (Collins, yagé). Evidence: established that the word is Spanish-mediated and Indigenous in origin; its exact source language and date are unresolved.

Pronunciations vary more than for ayahuasca. Merriam-Webster gives ˈyä-ˌhā and Dictionary.com “yah-hay” (YAH-hay), the Spanish “j” sound. The Collins British entry gives /ˈjɑːɡeɪ/ (YAH-gay), and the Webster’s New World entry on Collins gives /ˈjɑʒeɪ/ (YAH-zhay) (Merriam-Webster, yage; Dictionary.com, yage; Collins, yagé). YAH-hay is the form two American dictionaries share. Evidence: established for what the dictionaries print.

What do caapi, hoasca and Daime mean?

Caapi is an older name in science. The 2023 history paper reports that when researchers studied the drink in the 1930s and 1940s, it was better known as yagê or caapi than as ayahuasca. It also describes how, among peoples of the Uaupés River in the upper Rio Negro, including the Desana, Gaapi is a divinity in the creation story and the plant gaapi stands for it (Lima and Marinho, 2023). Evidence: established as the paper’s account.

Daime is the name used by the Santo Daime church. A 2009 US federal court ruling records the church’s founding account: its founder was told in a vision to call the tea Daime, “a Portuguese word meaning ‘give me’”, as in the prayers “give me light”, “give me strength”, “give me wisdom” (Church of the Holy Light of the Queen v. Mukasey, 2009). Evidence: established as the church’s own account, recorded by a court.

Hoasca is the União do Vegetal’s name for the tea. The US Supreme Court’s 2006 syllabus describes UDV members receiving communion by drinking hoasca, a tea that contains DMT (Gonzales v. O Centro, 2006). The UDV’s US branch says its own name means “the union of the plants” (UDV USA). The churches’ history and court cases are in Santo Daime and the UDV. Evidence: established as self-description and court record.

How do researchers define ayahuasca?

In research papers, the word has a narrower, chemical meaning: a brew that contains DMT together with β-carboline alkaloids, the compounds that stop the body breaking DMT down too fast. A 2024 review adds that the drink is used by more than 70 Indigenous groups from 20 language families across Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Venezuela, Bolivia and Ecuador (dos Santos and Hallak, 2024). Evidence: established for the chemistry; the group count is the review’s.

That is why the word matters. Ayahuasca and DMT are related but not the same: one is a single molecule, the other a combination with its own timing and risks. Our pillar article what is DMT explains the molecule; why DMT breaks down so fast explains the enzyme the brew blocks; and ayahuasca benefits: what research shows covers the studies, with their limits.

What we could not check

• A Quechua dictionary or a Quechua speaker. The “dead” versus “soul” question is reported from dictionaries and reviews, not settled by us.
• The source behind Merriam-Webster’s 1870 date for ayahuasca and 1886 date for yage.
• Whether kamarampi and camaranti are spellings of one word.
• Canadian dictionaries, and an Oxford Learner’s entry for ayahuasca (none exists on its website).

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