Narghilé
/ËnÉËr.ÉĄÉȘ.li/noun
A hookah or water pipe, especially one traditionally used for smoking flavored tobacco.
Did you know?The word ultimately comes through Persian and Arabic from Sanskrit nÄrikela, meaning âcoconut,â reflecting the historical use of coconut shells in related pipe designs.
Etymological Timeline
Ancient India
Sanskrit
nÄrikela
âCoconut; the wordâs distant source, probably borrowed from a Dravidian languageâ
Medieval Persian
Persian
nÄrgil
âCoconutâ
Medieval Arabic
Arabic
nÄ۱ۏīl (nÄrijÄ«l)
âCoconut; a form used in the transmission of the term westwardâ
16thâ17th Century
Turkish
nargile
âA water pipe or hookah, named through association with the coconut-shell vesselâ
18thâ19th Century
European languages
narghile / nargile
âA hookah or water pipe, borrowed from Ottoman Turkish and related formsâ
Modern English
English
narghile
âA hookah or water pipeâ