Kilo Lingo

el

masculine

/taˈβako/

Line drawing of tabaco
Coloured illustration of tabaco
#3093 of 5,000 Core 5000

Translation

tobacco

Word origin

The origin is genuinely disputed. Spanish carried the word into the rest of Europe, and it reached English as 'tobacco'.

Origin
uncertain
Root
tabaco
English cognates
tobacco

Other proposed origins

  • Most often traced to a Taino (Arawakan) word for a roll of tobacco leaves or the reed pipe used to inhale the smoke, recorded by early Spanish colonists in the Caribbean. (tabaco)
  • Some accounts instead derive it from an Arabic word for a medicinal herb, tabbaq, that Spanish already knew before contact with the Americas. (tabbaq)

Grammar

Gendermasculine
Pluraltabacos

Examples

impregnaba .

The smell of tobacco filled the whole room.

.

He gave up tobacco after twenty years of smoking.

¿ ?

Have you got any tobacco left?

perjudicial .

Tobacco is harmful to your health.

liar.

He bought a pouch of rolling tobacco.

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This word is part of lesson 62.