parica

[ par-i-kah, -kuh ]

noun

1. a snuff used by certain Indians of South America containing dimethyltryptamine and other hallucinogenic agents, obtained from the seeds of the tree Piptadenia peregrina.

Word History and Origins

Origin of parica¹

< Portuguese paricá the name of the tree < Tupi

Example Sentences

“He is starting well,” Párica said.

From The Guardian

Also helping serve the rudimentary breakfast of coffee with milk, bread and fruit that brought hundreds of migrants at 6am on Friday morning, was Delia Párica, 41, a former nurse.

From The Guardian

Archaeologist Mate Parica says “remains of human bones have been found, but we can’t say anything without further analysis.”

From Seattle Times

In these festival habiliments the Tucunas go through their monotonous see-saw and stamping dances accompanied by singing and drumming, and keep up the sport often for three or four days and nights in succession, drinking enormous quantities of caysuma, smoking tobacco, and snuffing parica powder.

From Project Gutenberg

The snuff is called Parica, and is a highly stimulating powder made from the seeds of a species of Inga, belonging to the Leguminous order of plants.

From Project Gutenberg