What does "sirocco" mean?

A hot and often strong southerly to southeasterly wind on the Mediterranean that originates in the Sahara and adjacent North African regions.

What is a synonym for "sirocco"?

Common synonyms include: dust storm, chinook, chinook wind, devil, dust storm, duster.

//sɪˈɹɒkoʊ// noun, slang

noun, slang ·Moderate ·College level

Noun

1
A hot and often strong southerly to southeasterly wind on the Mediterranean that originates in the Sahara and adjacent North African regions.
"But come, the board is spread; our silver lamp / Is trimm’d, and heeds not the sirocco’s damp."
2
a windstorm that lifts up clouds of dust or sand wordnet
3
A draft of hot air from an artificial source of heat. colloquial
"In the hearth at the north wall a large fire cracked and lisped, flushing the room with a dry sirocco that caused frozen skin to tingle."

"But come, the board is spread; our silver lamp / Is trimm’d, and heeds not the sirocco’s damp."

From Italian scirocco (“south-east wind”).

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