tobacco

English

Tobacco plant

Etymology

Attested since 1588, borrowed from Spanish tabaco. The Spanish word could be from Arabic طُبَّاق‎ (ṭubbāq, “Dittrichia viscosa”) or from a Caribbean language such as Galibi Carib or Taíno or multiple of them, from a word meaning "roll of tobacco leaves" or "a pipe for smoking tobacco," such as tabago (“tube for inhaling smoke or powdered intoxicating plants”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /təˈbæk.əʊ/
• (US) IPA^(key): /təˈbæk.oʊ/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ækəʊ

Noun

tobacco (countable and uncountable, plural tobaccos or tobaccoes)

1. (uncountable) Any plant of the genus Nicotiana.
2. (uncountable) Leaves of Nicotiana tabacum and some other species cultivated and harvested to make cigarettes, cigars, snuff, for smoking in pipes or for chewing.
   • 2013 September 7, “Unlucky strike”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8852:

     Tobacco-settlement bonds are a tribute both to the inventiveness of bankers and the childlike impatience of politicians.

3. (countable) A variety of tobacco.

   Tobaccos from the Connecticut Valley were used for wrapping cigars.

Derived terms

• occabot (back slang)

Translations

any plant of the genus Nicotiana

• Abenaki: wdamô
• Albanian: duhan (sq) m
• Amharic: ትምባሆ (təmbaho), ትንባሆ (tənbaho)
• Arabic: تِبْغ‎ m (tibḡ), تَبْغ‎ m (tabḡ), دُخَان‎ m (duḵān), دُخَّان‎ m (duḵḵān), تُمْبَك‎ m (tumbak)
• Armenian: ծխախոտ (hy) (cxaxot)
• Assamese: ধঁপাত (dhõpat)
• Asturian: tabacu m
• Avar: тамахьо (tamaxo)
• Azerbaijani: tütün (az), tənbəki
• Bashkir: тәмәке (tämäke)
• Belarusian: ты́тунь m (týtunʹ)
• Bengali: তামাক (tamak)
• Breton: butun (br) m
• Bulgarian: тютю́н (bg) m (tjutjún)
• Burmese: ဆေး (my) (hce:)
• Buryat: тамхи (tamxi)
• Cahuilla: pivat
• Catalan: tabac (ca) m
• Catawba: umpa
• Central Melanau: tebakau
• Chechen: тонка (tonka)
• Cherokee: ᏦᎳ (tsola)
• Chichewa: fodya
• Chickasaw: chomak
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 煙草, 烟草 (jin¹ cou²)

  Dungan: хуон-ян (huon-i͡an), хан-ян (han-i͡an)

  Mandarin: 煙草 (zh), 烟草 (zh) (yāncǎo)

  Min Nan: 薰草 (zh-min-nan) (hun-chháu), 煙草, 烟草 (ian-chháu)

  Teochew: 薰草 (hung1 cao2)

  Wu: 煙草, 烟草 (i tshau)

• Coptic: ⲭⲣⲉⲙⲧⲥ (khremts)
• Crimean Tatar: tütün
• Czech: tabák (cs) m
• Danish: tobak (da) c
• Dutch: tabak (nl) m, tabaksplant (nl) f
• Esperanto: tabako
• Estonian: tubakas (et)
• Faroese: tubbak n
• Finnish: tupakka (fi), tupakkakasvi
• French: tabac (fr) m
• Friulian: tabac m
• Galician: tabaco (gl) m
• German: Tabak (de) m, Tabakpflanze (de) f
• Greek: καπνός (el) m (kapnós), νικοτιανή f (nikotianí)
• Gujarati: તમાકુ (tamāku)
• Hebrew: טַבָּק‎ m (tabak)
• Hindi: तम्बाकू (hi) m (tambākū)
• Hungarian: dohány (hu)
• Iban: semakau
• Icelandic: tóbak (is) n
• Indonesian: tembakau (id)
• Irish: tobac m
• Italian: tabacco (it) m
• Japanese: タバコ (ja) (tabako), たばこ (ja) (tabako), 煙草 (ja) (たばこ, tabako, えんそう, ensō)
• Javanese: mbako, tembako (jv), sata
• Kalmyk: тәмк (tämk)
• Kannada: ತಂಬಾಕು (kn) (tambāku)
• Kazakh: темекі (kk) (temeki)
• Khmer: ថ្នាំជក់ (thnam cŭək)
• Korean: 담배 (ko) (dambae), 연초(煙草) (ko) (yeoncho)
• Kurdish:

  Northern Kurdish: tûtin (ku)

• Kyrgyz: тамеки (ky) (tameki)
• Lao: ຢາສູບ (lo) (yā sūp)
• Latvian: tabaka f
• Lithuanian: tabakas m
• Luxembourgish: Tubak m
• Macedonian: тутун m (tutun)

• Malay: tembakau
• Malayalam: പുകയില (ml) (pukayila)
• Maltese: tabakk m
• Manchu: ᡩᠠᠮᠪᠠᡤᡠ (dambagu)
• Mansaka: tabako
• Maori: tōrori, tupeka
• Marathi: तंबाखू (tambākhū)
• Mohegan-Pequot: inahpáwôk
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: тамхи (mn) (tamkhi)

• Nahuatl: piciyetl (nah)
• Nanai: дамахи
• Navajo: nátʼoh
• Nepali: तमाखु m (tamākhu), सुर्ती (surtī)
• Nivkh: тамх (tamx)
• Northern Sami: duhpát
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: tobakk m

  Nynorsk: tobakk m

• Occitan: tabat (oc) m
• Ojibwe: asemaa
• Oriya: ତମାଖୁ (or) (tômakhu)
• Ossetian: тамако (tamako)
• Ottoman Turkish: توتون‎ (tütün)
• Pashto: تنباکو‎ m (tanbākú), تمباکو‎ (ps) m (tambākú)
• Persian: تنباکو‎ (fa) (tanbâku), توتون‎ (fa) (tutun)
• Piedmontese: tabach m
• Polish: tytoń (pl) m
• Portuguese: tabaco (pt) m
• Punjabi: ਤਮਾਕੂ (tamākū)
• Romanian: tutun (ro) m
• Russian: таба́к (ru) m (tabák)
• Sanskrit: तमाखु m (tamākhu), कलञ्ज (sa) m (kalañja), तमाल (sa) m (tamāla)
• Scottish Gaelic: tombaca m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ду̀ха̄н m (Bosnian, Croatian), ду̀ва̄н m (Serbian)

  Roman: dùhān (sh) m (Bosnian, Croatian), dùvān (sh) m (Serbian)

• Sinhalese: දුම්කොළ (si) (dumkoḷa)
• Slovak: tabak (sk) m
• Slovene: tobak (sl) m
• Somali: buuri
• Spanish: tabaco (es) m
• Swahili: mtumbaku
• Swedish: tobak (sv) c
• Tabasaran: тембеку (tembeku)
• Tajik: тамоку (tamoku)
• Tamil: புகையிலை (ta) (pukaiyilai)
• Taos: łáne
• Tatar: төтен (tt) (töten), тәмәке (tt) (tämäke)
• Telugu: పొగాకు (te) (pogāku)
• Thai: ยาสูบ (th) (yaa-sùup), บุหรี่ (th) (bù-rìi)
• Tibetan: ཐ་མག (tha mag), བཞེས་ཐག (bzhes thag) (honorific)
• Tigrinya: ትምባኾ (təmbaxo)
• Turkish: tütün (tr)
• Turkmen: temmäki
• Ukrainian: тютю́н (uk) m (tjutjún)
• Unami: kwshatay
• Urdu: تمباکو‎ m (tambākū)
• Uyghur: تاماكا‎ (tamaka)
• Uzbek: tamaki (uz)
• Vietnamese: thuốc lá (vi)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Walloon: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: tybaco (cy) m
• Yiddish: טאַבאַק‎ m (tabak)
• Zhuang: ien, ienmbaw
• ǃXóõ: gǂkxʻàna

leaves of certain varieties of tobacco plant

• Afrikaans: tabak
• Albanian: duhan (sq) m
• Amharic: ትምባሆ (təmbaho)
• Arabic: تَبْغ‎ m (tabḡ), تَبَغ‎ m (tabaḡ)
• Armenian: ծխախոտ (hy) (cxaxot), ծխախոտաբույս (cxaxotabuys)
• Asturian: tabacu m
• Azerbaijani: tütün (az)
• Bashkir: тәмәке (tämäke)
• Belarusian: ты́тунь m (týtunʹ)
• Bengali: তামাক (tamak)
• Bulgarian: тютю́н (bg) m (tjutjún)
• Burmese: ဆေး (my) (hce:)
• Catalan: tabac (ca) m
• Chamicuro: polojti
• Cherokee: ᏦᎳ (tsola)
• Chichewa: fodya
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 煙草 (zh), 烟草 (zh) (yāncǎo), 煙葉 (zh), 烟叶 (zh) (yānyè)

• Coptic: ⲭⲣⲉⲙⲧⲥ (khremts)
• Crimean Tatar: tütün
• Czech: tabák (cs) m
• Danish: tobak (da) c
• Dutch: tabak (nl) m
• Esperanto: tabako
• Estonian: tubakas (et)
• Faroese: tubbak n
• Finnish: tupakka (fi)
• French: tabac (fr) m
• Galician: tabaco (gl) m
• Georgian: თამბაქო (tambako)
• German: Tabak (de) m
• Greek: καπνός (el) m (kapnós)
• Guajá: mɨtɨ́
• Guaraní: petỹ
• Gujarati: તમાકુ (tamāku)
• Hausa: antusko, asara
• Hebrew: טַבָּק‎ m (tabak)
• Hindi: तंबाकू (hi) m (tambākū)
• Hungarian: dohány (hu)
• Icelandic: tóbak (is)
• Indonesian: tembakau (id)
• Irish: tobac m
• Isthmus Zapotec: gueza
• Italian: tabacco (it) m
• Japanese: タバコ (ja) (tabako), たばこ (ja) (tabako), 煙草 (ja) (たばこ, tabako, えんそう, ensō)
• Javanese: tembako (jv), sata
• Kalmyk: тәмк (tämk)
• Kannada: ತಂಬಾಕು (kn) (tambāku)
• Kayapó: karinhô
• Kazakh: темекі (kk) (temeki)
• Khmer: ថ្នាំជក់ (thnam cŭək)
• Korean: 담배 (ko) (dambae), 연초(煙草) (ko) (yeoncho)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: توتِن‎ (tutin)

• Kyrgyz: тамеки (ky) (tameki)

• Lao: ຢາສູບ (lo) (yā sūp)
• Latin: tabacum n
• Latvian: tabaka f
• Lithuanian: tabakas m
• Luxembourgish: Tubak m
• Macedonian: ту́тун m (tútun)
• Malagasy: kisoka (mg), paraky (mg), tabaka (mg)
• Malay: tembakau
• Malayalam: പുകയില (ml) (pukayila)
• Maltese: tabakk m
• Maléku Jaíka: túa
• Maori: tupeka
• Mohawk: oién:kwa'
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: тамхи (mn) (tamkhi)

• Nahuatl: piciyetl (nah)

  Classical: piciyetl

• Navajo: nátʼoh
• Nivkh: тамх (tamx)
• Norwegian: tobakk
• Occitan: tabat (oc) m
• Ojibwe: asemaa
• Persian: تنباکو‎ (fa) (tanbâko)
• Pirahã: tíhi
• Polish: tytoń (pl) m, tabaka (pl) f
• Portuguese: tabaco (pt) m
• Pykobjê: carin
• Romanian: tutun (ro) n, tabac (ro) n
• Russian: таба́к (ru) m (tabák)
• Scottish Gaelic: tombaca m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ду̀ха̄н m (Bosnian, Croatian), ду̀ва̄н m (Serbian)

  Roman: dùhān (sh) m (Bosnian, Croatian), dùvān (sh) m (Serbian)

• Sicilian: tabbaccu m
• Slovak: tabak (sk) m
• Slovene: tobak (sl) m
• Spanish: tabaco (es) m
• Sranan Tongo: tabaka
• Swahili: tumbaku (sw)
• Swedish: tobak (sv)
• Tagalog: tabako
• Tamil: புகையிலை (ta) (pukaiyilai)
• Tatar: төтен (tt) (töten)
• Taíno: tabacu'
• Telugu: పొగాకు (te) (pogāku)
• Thai: ยาสูบ (th) (yaa-sùup)
• Tibetan: མདོ་ཐག (mdo thag), བཞེས་ཐག (bzhes thag) (honorific)
• Turkish: tütün (tr)
• Tuvan: таакпы (taakpı)
• Ukrainian: тютю́н (uk) m (tjutjún)
• Urdu: تمباکو‎ m (tambākū)
• Vietnamese: thuốc lá (vi)
• Volapük: please add this translation if you can
• Welsh: tybaco (cy) m
• West Frisian: tabak
• Yiddish: טאַבאַק‎ m (tabak)
• Zhuang: ien, ienmbaw, yenhcauj
• ǃXóõ: gǂkxʻàna

variety

• Finnish: tupakkalajike, tupakkalaatu

Verb

tobacco (third-person singular simple present tobaccos, present participle tobaccoing, simple past and past participle tobaccoed)

1. (intransitive) To indulge in tobacco; to smoke.
2. (transitive) To treat with tobacco.
   • 1918, Tropical Diseases Bulletin (volume 12, page 412)

     The most satisfactory method of tobaccoing houses is that of stitching the leaves on to a piece of cloth like a strip of matting, which is then laid on the floor. Powdered tobacco should be introduced into rat holes, which can then be firmly closed up with bricks and mortar. Experiments carried out in the City of Hyderabad seem to have been very satisfactory.

See also

• baccy, backy
• chop chop
• smoke

Anagrams

• occabot