Meaning

noun an alcoholic drink made from the aromatic roots of the kava shrub

originEtymology tree Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *wakaʀ Proto-Oceanic *kawaʀ Proto-Polynesian *kawa Tongan kavader. English kava From Tongan kava, in turn from Proto-Polynesian *kawa. Doublet of ʻawa, ava, kawa, and yava.

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 3.0