word , which means "fermented water", the verb meaning "to sour a drink" and the noun meaning "water". These etymologies are not mutually exclusive. Additionally, is thought by Miguel Ángel Quesada Pacheco to originate from the long-extinct and poorly attested Chocoan language Cueva.

The Spanish idiom ni chicha ni limonada (neither chicha nor lemonade) means "neither one thing nor another"