"taba" meaning in English

See taba in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

Forms: tabas [plural]
Etymology: Borrowed from Mandingo taba. Etymology templates: {{bor+|en|man|taba}} Borrowed from Mandingo taba Head templates: {{en-noun|~}} taba (countable and uncountable, plural tabas)
  1. A lump of dried tobacco, occasionally mixed with other recreational drugs, placed in the vagina for its stimulating effects. Tags: countable, uncountable
    Sense id: en-taba-en-noun-SBLkbbGo Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Pages with 23 entries, Pages with entries
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "man",
        "3": "taba"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Mandingo taba",
      "name": "bor+"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Mandingo taba.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tabas",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "taba (countable and uncountable, plural tabas)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 23 entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              1,
              5
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2024 December 30, ““Taba” addiction, dangers it poses among Gambian women, girls”, in The Voice, archived from the original on 08 Aug 2025:",
          "text": "“Taba,” the Mandinka term for tobacco, refers to a locally made tobacco substance that was commonly used by older generations in The Gambia well before independence. This practice, which was often adopted by individuals seeking energy boosts or stress relief, has taken a troubling turn in recent years. Today, a mixture of various substances under the same name is being used predominantly by women and girls, and shockingly, it is applied through their genitals for a range of purposes.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              30,
              34
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 March 19, Kaddy Jawo, “‘I nearly died’: Taba, the tobacco drug Gambian women share in secret”, in Al Jazeera, archived from the original on 22 Mar 2025:",
          "text": "Sellers like Saf take regular taba and mix it with potent chemicals to enhance its intoxicating effect. Many women then use it intravaginally, believing it enhances sexual pleasure.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              154,
              158
            ],
            [
              164,
              168
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 December 26, “Gambian women put tobacco ‘taba’ in vaginas”, in edge.ug, archived from the original on 01 Jan 2026:",
          "text": "Health authorities in The Gambia are raising alarm over a growing practice among women involving the intravaginal use of a local powdered tobacco called “taba” or “tabaa.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A lump of dried tobacco, occasionally mixed with other recreational drugs, placed in the vagina for its stimulating effects."
      ],
      "id": "en-taba-en-noun-SBLkbbGo",
      "links": [
        [
          "tobacco",
          "tobacco"
        ],
        [
          "recreational drug",
          "recreational drug"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "taba"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "man",
        "3": "taba"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Mandingo taba",
      "name": "bor+"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Mandingo taba.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "tabas",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "~"
      },
      "expansion": "taba (countable and uncountable, plural tabas)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English countable nouns",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English lemmas",
        "English nouns",
        "English terms borrowed from Mandingo",
        "English terms derived from Mandingo",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English uncountable nouns",
        "Pages with 23 entries",
        "Pages with entries"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              1,
              5
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2024 December 30, ““Taba” addiction, dangers it poses among Gambian women, girls”, in The Voice, archived from the original on 08 Aug 2025:",
          "text": "“Taba,” the Mandinka term for tobacco, refers to a locally made tobacco substance that was commonly used by older generations in The Gambia well before independence. This practice, which was often adopted by individuals seeking energy boosts or stress relief, has taken a troubling turn in recent years. Today, a mixture of various substances under the same name is being used predominantly by women and girls, and shockingly, it is applied through their genitals for a range of purposes.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              30,
              34
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 March 19, Kaddy Jawo, “‘I nearly died’: Taba, the tobacco drug Gambian women share in secret”, in Al Jazeera, archived from the original on 22 Mar 2025:",
          "text": "Sellers like Saf take regular taba and mix it with potent chemicals to enhance its intoxicating effect. Many women then use it intravaginally, believing it enhances sexual pleasure.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              154,
              158
            ],
            [
              164,
              168
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2025 December 26, “Gambian women put tobacco ‘taba’ in vaginas”, in edge.ug, archived from the original on 01 Jan 2026:",
          "text": "Health authorities in The Gambia are raising alarm over a growing practice among women involving the intravaginal use of a local powdered tobacco called “taba” or “tabaa.”",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A lump of dried tobacco, occasionally mixed with other recreational drugs, placed in the vagina for its stimulating effects."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "tobacco",
          "tobacco"
        ],
        [
          "recreational drug",
          "recreational drug"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "countable",
        "uncountable"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "taba"
}

Download raw JSONL data for taba meaning in English (2.5kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.