noun
cocoa
KOH-koh
noun
1
A brown powder made from roasted, ground cacao beans, used to make chocolate and in baking.
"Sift the cocoa powder into the cake batter."
2
A hot drink made by mixing cocoa powder with milk and sugar.
"She curled up with a mug of hot cocoa after sledding."
How to Use Cocoa
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe powder chocolate is made from, or a warm chocolatey milk drink made from it.
Common mistake
Cocoa (chocolate) and coca (the plant behind cocaine) look similar but are completely unrelated.
Easily confused with
coca →
cacao
Common pairings
a mug of cocoa
cocoa powder
cocoa butter
Word Forms
cocoas plural
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Sift the _____ powder into the cake batter.
Etymology
From Spanish cacao, ultimately from the Nahuatl word cacahuatl; the spelling "cocoa" arose from confusion with the unrelated word "coco" and was later fixed in place by an early English dictionary.