# cannabis

Pronunciation: US say "KAN-uh-bis" /ˈkænəbɪs/; UK

## Noun

1. A psychoactive drug made from parts of the cannabis plant that intoxicates the user and brings on mild euphoria or sedation.
   - Simple: A drug made from the cannabis plant that changes how people feel and think and can make them happy or sleepy.
   - _Toxicology tests showed the driver had been impaired by cannabis when the crash happened._
   - _The clinic treats patients whose cannabis use has started to interfere with work and school._
2. A tall annual plant of the genus Cannabis, especially Cannabis sativa, native to central Asia, usually with male and female flowers on separate plants, leaves divided into finger-like leaflets, and tough stem fibers.
   - Simple: A tall plant from central Asia that lives for one year, with leaves shaped like a hand and tough stem fibers.
   - _Hemp farmers sow cannabis close together so the stalks grow tall and produce long fibers._
   - _Botanists collected seeds of wild cannabis in the mountain valleys of central Asia, where the plant is native._
3. A preparation of the cannabis plant, such as dried flowers, an oil or a purified extract, used as a medicine to relieve symptoms rather than to intoxicate.
   - Simple: Parts of the cannabis plant, or oil made from them, used as medicine for an illness, not to get high.
   - _When other treatments failed to ease the nerve pain in his legs, his doctor recommended trying cannabis in the form of a prescribed oil._
   - _Some hospitals now stock pharmaceutical-grade cannabis for patients whose nausea does not respond to other drugs._

## Origin

English took cannabis from Latin cannabis (“hemp”), which Latin had in turn taken from Ancient Greek κάνναβις (kánnabis). Canvas and hemp are doublets of it, words that reached English from the same source by different routes.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/cannabis (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).