'vilca' enters English via Spanish from indigenous South American languages (Quechua/Aymara) where forms like 'wilka' or 'willka' referred to the tree or a sacred object.

The indigenous term 'wilka' (Quechua/Aymara) was adopted into Spanish as 'vilca' and later used in English botanical and anthropological descriptions to refer to Anadenanthera trees and their seeds.

Originally the term carried connotations of 'sacred' or named a particular culturally significant tree; in modern scientific and ethnographic usage it refers more specifically to the tree species or their seeds and their use as snuff.