oca

or o·ka

[ oh-kuh ]

noun

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

oca

/ ˈəʊkə /

noun

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of oca¹

1595–1605; < Spanish < Quechua oqa

Word History and Origins

Origin of oca¹

C20: via Spanish from Quechua okka

Example Sentences

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

From Scientific American

An extra course of Alaskan spot prawn with an overlapping, crimson-edged topping of oca — a naturally tart tuber often used in Latin American cooking that Ibrahim located from a farm in Oregon — proved mystifyingly fantastic.

From Seattle Times

Those pieces added a crisp element to the confit, which would be served with brown butter crumbs, dried carrots, oca leaves and gribenes.

From New York Times

It started with the beginning of life itself in Brazil, and the population that formed in the vast forests and built their communal huts, the ocas.

From Reuters

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

From Project Gutenberg