Contents

English

Etymology

1588, from Spanish tabaco, in turn either from Arabic طباق (ṭabāq, ṭubāq, “a type of medicinal herb”) (Spanish circa 1410, Arabic dating to 9th century), or from Taino, in sense “a roll of tobacco leaves”[1] or “a pipe for smoking tobacco”.[2] The term is thus either an Old World term (of Arabic origin) applied to a New World plant, or a New World word.[3]

Pronunciation

Noun

tobacco (countable and uncountable; plural tobaccos)

  1. (uncountable) any plant of the genus Nicotiana
  2. (uncountable) leaves of certain varieties of the plant cultivated and harvested to make cigarettes, cigars, snuff, for smoking in pipes or for chewing.
  3. (countable) a variety of tobacco
    Tobaccos from the Connecticut Valley were used for wrapping cigars.

See also

References

  1. ^ Las Casas, 1552
  2. ^ Oviedo, 1535
  3. ^ “tobacco” in the Online Etymology Dictionary, Douglas Harper, 2001

 

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