Kif

Pronunciation

• IPA: /kiːf/, /kɪf/

Alternative forms

• kaif, keef, kef, kief

Origin

From Moroccan Arabic كيف.

Full definition of kif

Noun

1. A kind of cannabis smoked in Morocco and Algeria, for narcotic or intoxicating effect.
• 1809, James Grey Jackson, An Account of the Empire of Marocco, VIII:The kief, which is the flower and seeds of the plant, is the strongest, and a pipe of it half the size of a common English tobacco-pipe, is sufficient to intoxicate.
• 1882, C. Rollin-Tilton, translating Edmondo de Amicis, Morocco: Its People & Places:I perceived the odour of kif, and recognised the voices of Selam the Second, Abd-el-Rhaman, and others; it was an Arab orgie in full swing.
• 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin 2006, p. 80:The trade goods – Persian rugs, salt, muskets, kif – trailed out behind them over the dunes, still lashed to the backs of rotting animals.
• 2000, JG Ballard, Super-Cannes, Fourth Estate 2011, p. 52:‘Some taxi driver, a Maghrebian…he suddenly swerved. They smoke kief, you know.’
2. The trichome of marijuana, a green powdery substance that falls from dry marijuana high in THC and other cannabinoid compounds.