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Although Quechua is often thought of as a highland Andean language (and was the official language of the Inca Empire, Tawantinsuyu) it is also an Amazonian language, having been a lingua franca in parts of the Amazon since many centuries before Inca times. The variety of Quechua (or Kichwa) associated with Ayahuasca practice in the Amazon is basically the dialect spoken along the Napo River, which begins in Ecuador and flows through Peru to connect with the Amazon River near Iquitos. (It is very different from the Quechua spoken in highland Peru and Bolivia, almost a distinct language.)

Following are Amazonian Quechua (or Kichwa) words associated with Ayahuasca practice or part of medicinal plant names in the Amazon. (Comparisons with Peruvian highland [Cuzco] Quechua are made in order to demonstrate the differences between Amazonian and highland Quechua):

chacruna / chakruna = 1) mixture, 2) something dry mixed with something liquid, in Amazonian Quechua. In Ecuadorean highland Quichua, it can mean "disorderly mixture." (unknown word in Cuzco Quechua)

chaliponga -- > chali panga means "split leaf" in Napo Quichua (chali and panga are unknown words in Cuzco Quechua; "leaf is raphi in Cuzco Quechua).

chagroponga --> chagra panga means "garden leaf" in Napo Quichua. (Garden is chakra and leaf is "panka" in Cuzco Quechua.)

ponga --> panga in Amazonian Quechua is "leaf' (in Cuzco Quechua, laqi or raphi is "leaf").

sacha (as in sacha runa, sacha mama, ajo sacha, etc) --> means "forest" or "wild" in Amazonian Quechua (in contrast to chagra, the cultivated garden). It signifies the spirit of wildness, the spirit of the forest. In Cuzco Quechua, it means "tree" or "wood" and sacha-sacha means grove, group of trees, or forest.

kaspi --> means "tree" or "wood" in Amazonian Quechua (kaspi means "stick" in Cuzco Quechua)

sanango --> sanangu, a hybrid Spanish-Quechua word that means "medicinal plant," from Spanish sanar and the Amazonian Quechua suffix -ngu (-nqu in Cuzco Quechua) which means "in order to." This word is part of the name of many medicinal plants.

chiri (as in chiri sanango. chiri wayusa, etc) --> means "cold"

chirik (as in "chirik sanango," another form of chiri sanango) means "cooling" or "making cold" (chiriq in Cuzco Quechua). It also sometimes means shivering.

yawar (also spelled yahuar) --> blood


Some other Amazonian Quechua words used in Ayahuasca culture, or occurring in icaros (with comparisons to Cuzco Quechua when they differ). Quechua verb roots are sometimes used with Spanish verb endings in mestizo icaros.

yachay --> means "knowledge" (in all dialects). In Amazonian Quechua, it also signifies spiritual power, which is a transferable substance, sometimes embodied in invisible phlegm. (Yachay is also the verb "to know" in Cuzco Quechua, while to know is yachana in Amazonian Quechua.

yachak --> literally "knower," is the Amazonian Quechua word for shaman. (The word "knower" is yachaq in Cuzco Quechua.)

icaro --> ikaray means "to blow smoke on to heal" (unknown word in Cuzco Quechua)

wasi (as in Takiwasi, Waska-wasi, etc) --> house

shungu --> heart. (sonqo in Cuzco Quechua)

runa --> means (depending on context) person, human being, any being that communicates (eg, a spirit); in the highlands, it often means Indian (with the connotation of humble common person)

hambi or ambi --> "medicine" or "poison" -- any substance which alters the body. (hampi in Cuzco Quechua)

samay --> "breath" or "energy."

sumay --> "beauty." (As a noun this word is not used in Cuzco Quechua, but the adjective sumaq, "beautiful" or "excellent" is.)

yaku --> "water" or "river." (In Cuzco Quechua, "river" is mayu, and water may be either yaku or unu; the latter word is unknown in Amazonian Quechua.)

mama --> "mother." It can also mean the master spirit of a species of plant or animal.

arkana --> literally, to block a path, to dam, etc; used to mean a "fortress" against negative energies. (harkana in Cuzco Quechua.

taki --> "song" (as a verb root, taki- means to sing.) In Amazonian Quechua, at least in Napo, taki is reserved for spirit songs or power songs; the Spanish loanword kanta- is used for everyday singing.

wayra (sometimes spelled huaira) --> "wind."

nina --> "fire."

amarun --> "boa" or "anaconda" (amaru in Cuzco Quechua)

sinchi or shinchi --> strong

ali or alli --> good.

alichi- or allichi- (verb root) --> to make good, ie., to heal.

shamu-, shamuri- (verb roots) --> come.

shaya-, shayari- (verb roots) --> stand or stay.

muyu-, muyuri- (verb roots) --> turn in a circle

pacha --> place, time, space, season, body, nature, Earth, universe...

Pachamama --> usually translated "Mother Earth" but perhaps more literally "Mother Time/Space/Universe." ("Earth" in the sense of "ground" or "soil" is allpa, and Mother Earth as the ground is Allpamama.)

pichana --> literally, sweeping; means energy cleansing or limpieza (p'ichana in Cuzco Quechua)

sasina --> literally, fasting; refers to dieta