bhang
- 1A preparation made from the leaves and flowers of the cannabis plant, eaten or drunk especially during Hindu festivals such as Holi.
The temple served bhang to worshippers as part of the spring festivities.
Vendors along the river sold cups of bhang throughout the day of Holi.
Note
English borrowed the word directly from Hindustani bhāṅg, written بھانگ in Urdu script and भाँग in Devanagari. In this sense it names the festival preparation itself, the thing that is eaten or drunk, rather than the plant. It is a mass noun: one drinks bhang or a cup of bhang, never a bhang. For cannabis of any kind, see the general term.
- 2Cannabis in general, or any preparation made from it.
Smugglers moved bhang across the border in concealed compartments.
The market quietly traded in bhang despite the ban.
Similarcannabis, marijuana, hemp
Note
In India, Kenya and Uganda the word is a plain everyday name for cannabis in any form, as in the government-approved bhang shops of Radhika Iyengar's Fire on the Ganges (2023). Elsewhere it is slang. In English fiction it often carries an exotic air: Ronald Firbank's Valmouth (1919) lists it beside apes, pearls and the color blue. It also works readily as a modifier, as in Michael Chabon's "bhang dream."
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Origin
A transliteration of the Hindustani word بھانگ / भाँग (bhāṅg).