Ganja

Ganja pronunciation (a)

Sound of the word being spoken in Swahili by a Kenyan.

Ganja pronunciation (b)

Sound of the word being spoken by a German native.

Ganja pronunciation (c)

Sound of the word being spoken by a French native.

Ganja (/ˈɡændʒə/, US: /ˈɡɑːndʒə/; Hindi pronunciation: [ɡaːɲd͡ʒaː]) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for marijuana. Its usage in English dates to before 1689.^[1]

Etymology

Ganja is borrowed from

One academic source places the date of introduction of ganja in Jamaica at 1845.[8] The term came with 19th century workers whose descendants are now known as Indo-Jamaicans.^[9]

Contemporary use of the term ganja

English use

Ganja is the most common term for marijuana in West Indies.^[9][10]

In popular culture

In 1976, Peter Tosh defended the use of ganja in the song "Legalize It".^[11] The hip hop group Cypress Hill revived the term in the United States in 2004 in a song titled "Ganja Bus", followed by other artists, including rapper Eminem, in the 2009 song "Must Be the Ganja".^[7][12]

In other languages

Derivatives of the term are used as generic words for marijuana in several languages, such as Indonesian/Malay (ganja), Khmer (កញ្ឆា, kanhchhea), Lao (ກັນຊາ, kan sa), Thai (กัญชา, gancha), Tiwi (kanja),^[13] and Vietnamese (cần sa).

References

Look up ganja or गांजा in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.