kava

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a Pacific island shrub, Piper methysticum, whose roots contain psychoactive kavalactones

   The farmer cultivated kava beneath the shade of taller tropical plants.

2. 2
   noun

   a traditionally nonalcoholic Pacific drink prepared from the crushed or ground root of the kava plant

   Guests shared a bowl of kava during the welcoming ceremony.

Borrowed from Tongan kava, one of several Polynesian names descended from a common ancestral form; Samoan and Tahitian use 'ava. English applies the name to both Piper methysticum and the traditionally nonalcoholic drink made from its root.

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