The word 'vicuña' entered English in the early 17th century via Spanish, which itself adopted it from Quechua, the language of the Inca Empire. The Quechua source was wik'uña, the indigenous name for the animal. As a loanword, it retains its original form as a single, unanalyzable unit in English, referring specifically to the Andean camelid and its valuable fleece. Its journey from a native South American term to a global luxury commodity term exemplifies the transmission of culture and language through trade and exploration.

The word is a direct borrowing from Spanish and cannot be meaningfully segmented into productive English morphemes.