A dry, dusty wind that blows from the Sahara in N Africa toward the Atlantic, esp. from Nov. to March.
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A dry dusty wind that blows along the northwest coast of Africa.
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Parching dust-bearing land-wind on coast of Upper Guinea in December, January & February.
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Other Word Forms
Noun
Singular:
harmattan
Plural:
harmattans
Origin of harmattan
Akan (Twi) haramatapossibly from Arabic ḥarāmevil thingfromḥaramato prohibitx̣rm in Semitic roots
From
American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Harmattan Sentence Examples
The dry east wind known as the harmattan blows intermittently from December to March.
During the dry season, when the climate is very much like that of the West Indies, there occur terrible tornadoes and long periods of the harmattan - a north-east wind, dry and desiccating, and carrying with it from the Sahara clouds of fine dust, which sailors designate "smokes."
Known in Egypt as the khamsin, on the Mediterranean as the sirocco, it is called on the Guinea coast the harmattan.
The dry wind from the Sahara called harmattan, which carries great quantities of fine red sand, causes a fall of temperature in the (European) summer.