Khat

//kɑːt// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A shrub, Catha edulis, whose leaves are used as a mild stimulant when chewed or brewed as tea; also a drug produced from this plant. countable, uncountable

    "They are chewing on khat, a small serrated, bitter leaf with remarkable stimulative properties. […] One of the great things about khat[…] is that after a good chew you need to do something—walking, running, chopping wood, vigorously reciting a poem, throwing a grenade, anything that requires boldness and physical initiative."

  2. 2
    the leaves of the shrub Catha edulis which are chewed like tobacco or used to make tea; has the effect of a euphoric stimulant wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
african teaarabian teabushman's teacatkatkat

Example

More examples

"Khat, the red-stemmed, green-leafed plant that is chewed for its amphetamine-like properties, is grown in Kenya and Ethiopia but is very popular in Somalia, Djibouti and Yemen."

Etymology

From Arabic قَات (qāt).

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.