kif

English

Kif in a jar.

Alternative forms

• kaif, keef, kef, kief

Etymology

From Moroccan Arabic كيف (kīf).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kiːf/, /kɪf/

Noun

kif (uncountable)

1. A kind of cannabis smoked in Morocco and Algeria, for narcotic or intoxicating effect.
   • 1809, James Grey Jackson, An Account of the Empire of Marocco, VIII:

     The kief, which is the flower and seeds of the plant, is the strongest, and a pipe of it half the size of a common English tobacco-pipe, is sufficient to intoxicate.

   • 1882, C. Rollin-Tilton, translating Edmondo de Amicis, Morocco: Its People & Places:

     I perceived the odour of kif, and recognised the voices of Selam the Second, Abd-el-Rhaman, and others; it was an Arab orgie in full swing.

   • 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin 2006, p. 80:

     The trade goods – Persian rugs, salt, muskets, kif – trailed out behind them over the dunes, still lashed to the backs of rotting animals.

   • 2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate 2011, p. 52:

     ‘Some taxi driver, a Maghrebian…he suddenly swerved. They smoke kief, you know.’

2. The trichome of marijuana, a green powdery substance that falls from dry marijuana high in THC and other cannabinoid compounds.

Translations

Kind of cannabis

• Spanish: quife (es) m

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French

Etymology

From Moroccan Arabic كيف (kīf).

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kif/

Noun

kif m (usually uncountable)

1. kif

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Maltese

Etymology

From Arabic كيف (kayfa)

Pronoun

kif

1. how