Harmattan meaning

här'mə-tăn', här-măt'n
A dry dusty wind that blows along the northwest coast of Africa.
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A dry, dusty wind that blows from the Sahara in N Africa toward the Atlantic, esp. from Nov. to March.
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Parching dust-bearing land-wind on coast of Upper Guinea in December, January & February.
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Origin of harmattan

  • Akan (Twi) haramata possibly from Arabic ḥarām evil thing from ḥarama to prohibit x̣rm 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."

  • 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.

  • The mean temperature in the dry season, when the "harmattan" is frequent, is 62° Fahr., in the wet season 86°.

  • Harmattan >>

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Words near harmattan in the Dictionary