Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An evergreen shrub (Catha edulis) native to tropical East Africa, having dark green opposite leaves that are chewed fresh for their stimulating effects.
- n. A tealike beverage prepared from the leaves of this plant.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. See kafta.
Wiktionary
- n. A shrub (Catha edulis) used as a mild stimulant when chewed or brewed as tea.
- n. The leaves and tops of this shrub chewed as a mild stimulant.
- n. Tea brewed from the leaves of this shrub.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the leaves of the shrub Catha edulis which are chewed like tobacco or used to make tea; has the effect of a euphoric stimulant
Etymologies
- Arabic qatt.
Examples
“A lot of time, they're chewing khat, which is this amphetamine-like twig that sort of makes them all tweaked out by the end of the day.”
“Quick research about Somali pirates will reveal a culture dependent on a nausea-killing plant called khat, or 'miraa' in Swahili.”
“There is quite a ritual to chewing khat, which is usually done sprawled on the floor, preferably on a carpet or blanket, with cushions to lean on.”
“And they see how countless Somali families are ruined, because the family father is too dependent on khat, which is also helping to support al-Shabaab.”
“Police recovered a drug called khat during a search of the vehicle.”
“Among them: chewing the mild narcotic known as khat and trading in drugs and prostitution.”
“Yemenis chew a stimulant called khat every afternoon.”
“The number one product airlifted from Kenya to Somali airports is the leafy narcotic drug khat, which is consumed widely across Somalia.”
“And everyone smokes khat, which is a leafy plant that temporarily deludes its users into feeling as if their problems are gone.”
“Of all art forms they excelled in, they take pride and cherish their mastery in calligraphy which is called khat in Arabic.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘khat’.
-
Of Arabic Origin
Arabic loanwords in English are words acquired directly from Arabic or else indirectly by passing from Arabic into other languages and then into English. Most entered one or more of the Romance lan...
admiral, adobe, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, alfalfa, algebra, algorism, algorithm, alidade and 181 more...
-
Words Not Recognized by WordMole on Blackberry
praxis, reprovingly, rewording, sudoku, gunnysack, limn, optionality, flightlist, fatwa, blunderbuss, khat, bloviate
chamb244 The thing is, this word is pronounced quite differently by Ethiopians, Somalis and Yemenis (distinguishing the transliterations "khat" & "qat" doesn't seem to capture this in practice). It would be helpful to note which country/language a recorded pronunciation is meant to refer to. Jan 8, 2011
knitandpurl "Hassan wants a catnap and grabs, as a calmant, hash, grass and smack, khat, ganja and tabac — an amalgam that can spark a pharmacal flashback."
Eunoia by Christian Bök (upgraded edition), p 17 May 19, 2010
madmouth agreed. we need 'kh' for /x/ (as 'x' would be horribly misleading) Jul 2, 2009
qroqqa Arabic /qa:t/, Somali jaad, so 'qat' is a better English spelling than 'khat'. Jul 3, 2008
chained_bear Alternate spelling of qat. I like qat much better, though as a rule I do like kh- words... but I like even better q- words that don't have U's following the Q. :) Mar 17, 2008