quinoa

Etymology

It is borrowed from Spanish quinua, recorded in South American Spanish from before 1550, formerly also quínoa (about 1565),^[2][3][4] from Quechua kinwa.^[3][1] Other dictionaries give the Quechua word as kinua or kinoa,^[5][6][7] and the OED as kínuwa.^[2] The Oxford dictionaries describe quinoa as the Spanish spelling of the Quechua word.^[6][8]

Earliest recorded meaning

The small seeds of a tall Andean plant of the goosefoot family, eaten as food: 1598, in W. Phillip's translation of Linschoten.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to the 1620s,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1615–25.^[9]

Semantic evolution

The word has named both the plant, Chenopodium quinoa of the high Andes, and its seeds, which the peoples of the Andes grew for food.^[6][4] The OED notes that the seeds are valued as a food source for their high protein content,^[2] and Collins describes quinoa as a nutritious grain, traditionally a staple food in the Andes.^[10] Merriam-Webster Unabridged records the spelling quinua beside quinoa.^[4]

Timeline

• 1598 – the seeds of the Andean plant, used as food.^[2][4] Etymonline dates the word to the 1620s.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The small seeds of an Andean plant, cooked and eaten like a grain or ground into flour: They served the fish on a bed of quinoa.^[4][10][2]
2. The plant itself, a tall annual goosefoot of the high Andes.^[4][6]

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
4. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
5. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
7. ^ Soanes, Catherine; Stevenson, Angus, eds. (2004), Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
8. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
9. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
10. ^ a b Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins