Khamseen

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A specific type of wind event that blows hot and dry air in North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, frequently causing dust storms and elevating temperatures in the region
2. This climatic phenomenon refers to a seasonal wind delivering extreme heat and dry conditions while stirring up dust, predominantly in desert landscapes
3. A strong, hot wind that sweeps across North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, bringing dry air and often dust storms

Etymology: The Arabic for "fifty" gives this wind its name. In Egyptian Arabic, "khamsin" (also spelled "khamseen") is a form of "khamsīn," meaning fifty, and the wind is so called because it was traditionally believed to blow for roughly fifty days, typically in the spring between late winter and early summer. That count is a folk reckoning rather than a fixed meteorological fact, but it explains the name. The word has a counterpart in the Arabic "khamasin" and the related "khamaseen," the form used to describe the same season and wind across the region. Because the name is rooted in a numeral, the term refers to a time as much as a gust: people speak of the khamsin season as a period, not just a single event.