Narghil

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A type of water pipe used for smoking flavored tobacco, also known as a hookah
2. An apparatus designed for drawing smoke through water, often used for recreational tobacco consumption, especially in social settings
3. A smoking device characterized by its long tube and water chamber, popular in various cultures for the enjoyment of flavored tobacco blends

Etymology: The water pipe takes its name from a coconut. In Persian, "nârgil" meant coconut, and the bowl of early versions of the device was built from coconut shell, which is how the object came to be named after the fruit. The Persian form "nârgile" passed into Turkish as "nargile," and from there French adopted it as "narghilé," the form that English later borrowed. The coconut itself carries a much older name. The Persian word is generally traced to Sanskrit "nārikela," meaning coconut, and that Sanskrit term is thought to come from a Dravidian language of southern India, where the palm grew. The journey of a single word thus runs from southern India to Persia, then Turkey, then France, and finally into English, each stage carrying the name of the fruit into a new object.

Synonyms: hookah, water pipe, shisha