1798, "common hemp," from Cannabis, Modern Latin plant genus named (1728), from Greek kannabis "hemp," a Scythian or Thracian word. Also source of Armenian kanap', Albanian kanep, Russian konoplja, Persian kanab, Lithuanian kanapes "hemp," and English canvas and possibly hemp. In reference to use of the plant parts as an intoxicant, from 1848. Related: Cannabic.
cannabis can·na·bis (kān'ə-bĭs)
n.
Any of several mildly euphoriant, intoxicating hallucinogenic drugs, such as hashish or marijuana, prepared from various parts of the hemp plant.