cheroot

IPA/ʃəˈruːt/
IPA/ʃəˈruːt/

cheroot — noun

  • cherootsingular
  • cherootsplural

1. a small cigar, usually slim, where the tobacco is left open at both tips rather

1.nounC2
Definition

a small cigar, usually slim, where the tobacco is left open at both tips rather than rolled to a tapered point.

Example

Grandfather Hugo lit a cheroot on the verandah after every Sunday dinner.

collocation: light a cheroot

Naoko offered her uncle a thin Burmese cheroot wrapped in a green leaf.

collocation: thin / Burmese cheroot

Common collocations
  • light a cheroot
  • smoke a cheroot
  • a tin of cheroots
  • a thin cheroot
  • a Burmese cheroot
Synonyms
  • cigar

    broader term; a cheroot is one specific style of cigar

  • stogie

    informal American word for a cheap, often long cigar

  • panatela

    long, thin cigar but closed at the head end, unlike a cheroot

Grammar Patterns

a cheroot

smoke a cheroot

Usage Note

A cheroot differs from a standard cigar in that both ends are cut flat (open) rather than one end being closed and pointed. Often associated with South and Southeast Asia, especially Myanmar (Burma) and the Philippines.

Common Mistakes

I smoked a cheroot cigarette after dinner.
I smoked a cheroot after dinner.
a cheroot is a kind of cigar, not a cigarette, so the extra word is wrong.

Synonym discussion

Sense: noun/1

All four words refer to rolled-tobacco smokes, but each picks out a different shape or register. 'Cigar' is the umbrella term: any rolled bundle of tobacco leaves, usually with one closed end. A 'cheroot' is a specific style — slim and cut flat at BOTH ends, strongly associated with Myanmar, the Philippines, and South India. 'Stogie' is American informal slang for a cheap, often long and rough cigar; it carries a homely, working-class flavour. 'Panatela' is a long, thin cigar shape but, unlike a cheroot, its head end is closed and tapered. So in a Yangon teashop a vendor would offer a cheroot; a Texan rancher might light a stogie; a Cuban shop sells panatelas alongside fatter coronas.

cigar ↗cheroot ↗stogie ↗panatela

Etymology

TamilFrenchEnglish

Borrowed into English in the early 1700s from French 'cheroute', which came from Tamil 'curuṭṭu' (சுருட்டு), meaning 'a roll' or 'roll of tobacco'. The word entered English through British colonial contact with southern India, and the South and Southeast Asian smoking tradition it names has stayed central to the term ever since.