Pot

Pot is a slang word for marijuana or the cannabis plant.

“Pot” was first used in the late 1930s in the US. The word came from the Spanish wine or brandy potación de guaya, which people often shortened to potiguaya or potaguaya. Portación de guaya means “the drink of grief,” and marijuana buds have been steeped in the alcohol.

Pot is often used to refer to the dried leaves and flowers of the cannabis plant, which are smoked or ingested for their psychoactive effects. People often use “pot” when talking about smoking marijuana recreationally. According to Google Books, Generation X uses the term “smoking pot” more often than millennials or Generation Z.

Pot and marijuana mean the same thing, but “pot” is a more informal word.