Harmattan Definition

härmə-tăn, här-mătn
noun
A dry, dusty wind that blows from the Sahara in N Africa toward the Atlantic, esp. from Nov. to March.
Webster's New World

Other Word Forms of Harmattan

Noun

Singular:
harmattan
Plural:
harmattans

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."

  • 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.