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Inca

[ ing-kuh ]

noun

  1. a member of any of the dominant groups of South American Indian peoples who established an empire in Peru prior to the Spanish conquest.
  2. a ruler or member of the royal family in the Incan empire.


Inca

/ ˈɪŋkə /

noun

  1. 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
  2. the ruler or king of this empire or any member of his family
  3. the language of the Incas See also Quechua
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • ˈIncan, adjective
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Other Words From

  • In·ca·ic [ing-, key, -ik, in-], adjective
  • Incan noun adjective
  • pseudo-Incan adjective noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of Inca1

1585–95; < Spanish < Quechua inka ruler of the Inca state
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Word History and Origins

Origin of Inca1

C16: from Spanish, from Quechua inka king
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Example Sentences

Spanish written accounts described the widespread use of coca leaves during Inca rites of passage.

Valdez suspects Ampato mountain was originally called Qampato, a word meaning toad in the Inca language.

I thought mostly about llamas, the camelids first domesticated by the Inca in the high-altitude Andean mountains some 5,000 years ago, a calm and gentle beast of burden whose presence delighted our children and eased the weight on our backs.

On the same train is 19-year-old Renata Flores, an artist who became famous for singing modern songs in her native Quechua, the language of the Inca empire that is still spoken in modern-day Peru.

From Ozy

The animals also provided meat and carried goods over some 25,000 miles of Inca roads.

How did the Inca get giant blocks of stone up mountains 500 years ago without the use of wheels?

Especially when the leader in question is that Inca of Incas, the president of the United States.

Among the Inca, quinoa was known as “chisaya mama” or “the mother grain,” and was treated with ritual ceremony.

It was the case in Peru, where the Inca was the direct representative on earth of the solar deity.

The high priest was second in dignity only to the Inca, and he was generally closely related to this ruler.

Blasphemy against the sun was considered as bad as treason against the Inca, and both were punished with death.

The registers were always submitted to the perusal of the Inca, and, subsequently, kept in the capital.

What reasons actuated the Inca we have no means of ascertaining.

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