yage

or ya·je

[ yah-hey ]

noun

1. a mildly hallucinogenic drug obtained from a South American vine, Banisteriopsis caapi.

Word History and Origins

Origin of yage¹

First recorded in 1920–25; from Latin American Spanish (Colombia, Equador) yagé, apparently from an Indigenous language of southeastern Colombia or northeastern Peru

Example Sentences

But the next morning, 40 days after the crash, an elder reached for what little was left of the yagé and drank it.

From Seattle Times

Guerrero made a call and asked for the yagé.

From Seattle Times

“This is a spiritual world,” he said, and the yagé “is of the utmost respect. It is the maximum concentration that is made in our spiritual world as an indigenous people.”

From Seattle Times

But the Indigenous culture and rituals saved them, too; he credits the yagé and the vision of the elder among their group.

From Seattle Times

That night at camp, Manuel Ranoque, father of the two youngest children, reached for one of the most sacred rituals of Indigenous groups of the Amazon — yagé, a bitter tea made of plants native to the rainforest, more widely known as ayahuasca.

From Seattle Times