A hookah is a special smoking pipe with a bowl on top, a jar of water in the middle, and a long tube. You draw smoke through the tube, and the smoke goes through the water first, so it feels cooler and wetter than smoke from a small wooden pipe.

A hookah水煙斗 is a special smoking pipe with a bowl on top, a jar of water in the middle, and a long tube是一種特別的煙斗，上面有個煙碗，中間有一罐水，還有一條長長的管子。You draw smoke through the tube你透過那條管子把煙吸進來, and the smoke goes through the water first煙會先經過水, so it feels cooler and wetter than smoke from a small wooden pipe所以感覺比小木煙斗吸出來的煙更涼、更濕潤。

Dictionaries often say it is for drugs; that is one use, but many people — in cafés, at home, at parties — put sweet, fruit-flavoured tobacco in it and sit together passing the pipe.

Dictionaries often say it is for drugs字典常常說它是用來吸毒的; that is one use那是其中一種用法, but many people — in cafés, at home, at parties但很多人——在咖啡廳、家裡、派對上 — put sweet, fruit-flavoured tobacco in it會放進帶甜味、水果口味的菸草 and sit together passing the pipe然後大家坐在一起輪流傳著抽。

It is an old kind of pipe from South Asia and the Middle East, so in English the word still feels a bit foreign and specific. You would not call a cigarette or an ordinary pipe a hookah.

It is an old kind of pipe from South Asia and the Middle East它是一種源自南亞和中東的古老煙斗, so in English the word still feels a bit foreign and specific所以在英文裡這個字聽起來還是有點異國、很特定。You would not call a cigarette or an ordinary pipe a hookah你不會把香菸或普通煙斗叫做hookah。

Some speakers also say shisha for the same café-style water pipe.

Some speakers also say shisha有些人也會說shisha for the same café-style water pipe來指同樣這種咖啡廳式的水煙斗。