sirocco

English

Alternative forms

• sciroc, siroc (rare)
• scirocco

Etymology

From Italian scirocco (“south-east wind”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sɪˈɹɒkoʊ/, /ʃɪˈɹɒkoʊ/

Noun

sirocco (plural siroccos)

1. A hot and often strong southerly to southeasterly wind on the Mediterranean that originates in the Sahara and adjacent North African regions.

   Synonym: ghibli (Libya)

   • 1888, Friedrich Nietzsche, The Antichrist 1:

     This tolerance and largeur of the heart that ‘forgives’ everything because it ‘understands’ everything, is sirocco for us.

   • 1814, George Gordon, Corsair, i:14:

     But come, the board is spread; our silver lamp / Is trimm’d, and heeds not the sirocco’s damp.

2. (colloquial) A draft of hot air from an artificial source of heat.
   • 2003, Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair that Changed America, Random House, →ISBN, page 113:

     In the hearth at the north wall a large fire cracked and lisped, flushing the room with a dry sirocco that caused frozen skin to tingle.

Translations

wind

• Arabic: رِيح شَلُوق f (rīḥ šalūq)
• Catalan: xaloc (ca) m
• Dutch: sirocco (nl) m
• Esperanto: siroko
• Finnish: širokko (fi)
• French: sirocco (fr) m
• German: Scirocco m, Schirokko m
• Greek: σιρόκος (el) m (sirókos)
• Hungarian: sirokkó (hu)
• Italian: scirocco (it) m
• Japanese: シロッコ (shirokko)
• Maltese: xlokk m
• Occitan: siròc (oc) m
• Polish: sirocco (pl) n
• Portuguese: siroco m, xaroco m
• Russian: сиро́кко (ru) m (sirókko)
• Serbo-Croatian: jugo (sh)
• Spanish: siroco m
• Swedish: sirocco

References

• Universal Dictionary of the English Language, volume 4, 1896, page 4286

Further reading

• sirocco on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian scirocco.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˌsiˈrɔ.koː/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: si‧roc‧co
• Rhymes: -ɔkoː

Noun

sirocco m (plural sirocco's)

1. sirocco (wind on the Mediterranean originating from North Africa)
2. (rare, dated) kiln

   Synonym: droogoven

French

Alternative forms

• siroc (archaic)

Etymology

Borrowed from Italian scirocco.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /si.ʁɔ.ko/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

sirocco m (plural siroccos)

1. (literal and figurative) sirocco
   • 1976, Serge Gainsbourg (lyrics and music), “Chez Max coiffeur pour hommes”, in L’homme à tête de chou:

     Puis sous le sirocco du séchoir / Dans mes cheveux / La petite garce laisse choir : / "Je veux"

     Then under the sirocco of the dryer / Into my hair / The little lass let drop [the words] / "I want [you]"

Further reading

• “sirocco”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.