overwordExplorer
ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

harmattan.

A dry and dusty wind which blows from the Sahara over the Atlantic coast of West Africa in December, January and February, being a hot wind in some areas and a cold wind in others.

9 characters3 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˌhɑːməˈtæn/UK/ˌhɑːˈmætən/UK/ˌhɑɹməˈtæn/General-American/ˌhɑɹməˈtɑn/General-American
  1. A dry and dusty wind which blows from the Sahara over the Atlantic coast of West Africa in December, January and February, being a hot wind in some areas and a cold wind in others.

  2. A season which spans the period in which the harmattan wind blows.

Where this word comes from

From Twi Akan haramata or a related word (whence also Spanish harmatán). The ultimate origin is supposed by some to be an Arabic word, but which one is uncertain; حَرَام (ḥarām, “accursed thing”) has been suggested.

FROM WORD TO NAME

Try it on your idea.

harmattan has 9 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.

harmattan studioharmattan workshello, harmattan

These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.

Explore the name generator

A word with a source.

Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.