hookah
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of hookah
First recorded in 1755–65, hookah is from the Arabic word ḥuqqah box, vase, pipe for smoking
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
But a good bet is Zikrayat, which will be showing the games on five big-screen TVs and offering food and hookah specials for the duration.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
What’s next, Doncic was a fat, lazy, beer-drinking, hookah smoker feasting on a 77-ounce New York strip steak with a side of the Slovenian specialty of sliced potatoes layered with cheese and heavy cream?
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 27, 2025
“Trust in the police is below zero here,” said Sofiane, 19, who was smoking a hookah with several friends in an alleyway.
From New York Times ● Jul. 9, 2023
Officers entered the front door of the hookah bar, and Nelson fled out the back, where several other officers and a police dog were waiting.
From Seattle Times ● May 16, 2023
They sat on low-seated woven stools, a brass hookah between them.
From "Amal Unbound" by Aisha Saeed
![]()
Their waiter Amir, who preferred not to share his last name, ferried packed peach-and-pineapple hookahs and tall glasses of pressed watermelon juice from the cafe’s kitchen to the table.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2026
In an open-air, bustling café in Nasr City in Cairo, dozens of newly arrived refugees huddle in small groups, puffing on hookahs, sharing stories about their homeland.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2024
The popular pipes, also known as hookahs and narghiles, are often passed between friends, potentially transmitting the virus.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 31, 2021
In lonely-looking and half-finished towns along the way, the only businesses seem to be coffee shops filled with men smoking hookahs and playing cards.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 23, 2018
Other servants maintained the fires in the hookahs.
From "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho
![]()
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.