Meaning & use
qat
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Meaning
noununcountable
A shrub whose fresh leaves are chewed for their stimulating effect, grown in East Africa and southern Arabia.
Grammar: Uncountable: chew qat, not a qat. Also spelled khat.
Patterns
- chew qat
- a bundle of qat
Farmers in the highlands grow qat on terraced hillsides.
Many men gather in the afternoon to chew qat.
The market was full of bundles of fresh qat.
Common combinations
- chew qat
- Visitors saw locals chew qat during the afternoon.
- qat leaves
- Qat leaves lose their potency within a few days.
- qat market
- The qat market opens early in the morning.
- qat farm
- The family owns a qat farm on the hill.
- qat chewing
- Qat chewing is a social custom in some regions.
- ban qat
- Several countries have decided to ban qat.
Synonyms and how they differ
- khat
- Khat is the more common spelling in English, and it is the same plant as qat.
- miraa
- Miraa is the Kenyan name for the plant, while qat is the Arabic-derived name.
- stimulant
- Stimulant is a general category, not a specific plant, so qat is one kind of stimulant.
Word family
- khat noun
- alternative spelling of qat
- qat chewer noun
- a person who chews qat
- cathinone noun
- the active chemical found in qat
- stimulant noun
- a substance that increases alertness
Commonly confused: qat or cat?
qat vs cat
Cat is the animal and ends in a short a sound, while qat starts with a q and is the plant. Some speakers say qat to rhyme with cot.
Practice
The leaves that many people in Yemen chew socially for a mild stimulant effect come from ___.
Choose one answer.
Qat is the shrub whose leaves are chewed in the region. Tobacco, coffee and betel are real plants but are not the ones described.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “qat”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.