# wort
## English
### Etymology 1

* PIE word
* *wréh₂ds
From Middle English wort, wurt, wyrte (“any herb or plant; herb or plant used as food or medicine; (specifically) cabbage or vegetable of the genus Brassica; (chiefly plural) dish of cooked vegetables”) [and other forms], from Old English wyrt (“a plant; vegetable; herb, spice”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *wurti (“a root; a spice”), from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (“a root”), from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“a root”). Doublet of root and related to orchard.
* Old Dutch wort (“herb; plant”) (Middle Dutch wort (“herb; root”))
* Old High German wurz (“herb; root; spice”) (Middle High German wurz, modern German Wurz)
* Old Norse jurt, urt (“herb”) (Icelandic jurt, Norwegian urt, Old Danish urt (modern Danish urt), Old Swedish yrt (“plant”) (modern Swedish ört))
* Old Saxon wurt (“herb; plant; root”) (Middle Low German wort, wurt)

#### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /wɜːt/, /wɔːt/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /wɝt/, /woɹt/
* Homophones: wert (one pronunciation), wart (one pronunciation)
* Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t, -ɔː(ɹ)t

#### Noun

wort (plural worts)
* (archaic or historical) Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine.
    (food): Synonyms: herb, potherb, vegetable
    (medicine): Synonym: herb
** 1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Sobrietie in Diete”, in The Boke Named the Governour […], London: […] Tho[mas] Bertheleti, →OCLC:[T]he people of his citye, […] shulde be norysshed with barly brede and cakes of whete, and that the residue of their diete shulde be salte, olyues, chese, and likes, and more ouer wortes that the feldes do brynge furthe, for their potage.
** 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Pouerty and Want Causes of Melancholy”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 4, subsection 6, page 207:[H]e [a poor person] drinks vvater, and liue's of vvort leaues, pulſe, like a hog, or ſcraps like a dog, […]
** 1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, “[XXV Sermons Preached at Golden Grove: Being for the Winter Half-year, […].] Sermon XVI. The House of Feasting: Or The Epicures Measures. Part II.”, in ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC, page 204:It is an excellent pleaſure to be able to take pleaſure in vvorts and vvater, in bread and onions; […]
** 1999 November, Victoria Zak, “A Modern Herbal Tea Garden”, in 20,000 Secrets of Tea: The Most Effective Ways to Benefit from Nature’s Healing Herbs, New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing, →ISBN, page 209:Two saints are credited with giving St. John's wort its name. One was St. John of Jerusalem, who used the wort (plant) during the crusades to heal his knights' battlefield wounds, and the other was John the Baptist.
* (specifically, historical) Chiefly in the plural: a plant of the genus Brassica used as a vegetable; a brassica; especially, a cabbage (Brassica oleracea).
** 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XIX.] The Manner of Trimming and Ordering Gardens: The Sorting of All Those Things that Grow out of the Earth, into Their Due Places, besides Corne and Plants Bearing Fruit.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 11:VVhy (ſay they in ſcorne and contempt of povertie) here is the ſtem of a vvoort ſo vvell grovvne, here is a cabbage ſo thriven and fed, that a poore mans boord vvill not hold it.
** 1610–1614, John Fletcher, “The Tragedie of Valentinian”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act III, scene ii, page 14, column 2:I am poore / And may expect a vvorſe; yet digging, pruning, / Mending of broken vvayes, carrying of vvater, / Planting of VVorts, and Onyons, any thing / That's honeſt, and a mans, Ile rather chooſe, […]
** 1648, Robert Herrick, “His Content in the Country”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC, page 233:Though ne'er ſo mean the Viands be, / They vvell content my Prevv and me. / Or Pea, or Bean, or VVort, or Beet, / VVhat ever comes, content makes ſvveet: […]
* (by extension, botany) A non-vascular plant growing on land from the division Anthocerotophyta (the hornworts) or Marchantiophyta (liverworts); an anthocerotophyte or marchantiophyte.

##### Derived terms

* adder's wort, adderwort (Bistorta officinalis)
* asterwort (Asteraceae spp.)
* awlwort (Subularia aquatica)
* banewort (Atropa belladonna, Ranunculus flammula)
* barrenwort (Epimedium alpinum)
* bearwort (Meum athamanticum)
* bellwort (Uvularia spp., Campanulaceae spp.)
* birthwort (Aristolochia, (Trillium erectum)
* bishop's-wort (Stachys officinalis)
* bitterwort (Gentiana lutea)
* bladderwort (Utricularia spp.)
* blawort (Centaurea cyanus)
* bloodwort
* blushwort (Aeschynanthus spp.)
* bogwort (Vaccinium myrtillus)
* boragewort (Boraginaceae)
* bridewort
* brimstonewort (Peucedanum officinale)
* brotherwort
* brownwort (Scrophularia vernalis, etc.)
* bruisewort
* bugwort
* bullwort
* burstwort
* butterwort
* cancerwort (Kickxia spp.)
* catwort
* clown's ringwort
* colewort
* coralwort
* crosswort
* damewort
* danewort
* dragonwort
* dragon's wort
* dropwort *
* dungwort
* earwort *
* elderwort
* fanwort
* felonwort (Solanum dulcamara)
* feltwort (Verbascum spp.)
* felwort (Swertia spp.)
* feverwort (Centaurium spp., Triosteum spp.)
* figwort (Scrophularia spp.)
* flapwort (Rachicallis americana, syn. Rachicallis rupestris)
* fleawort
* flukewort
* frostwort
* fumewort
* galewort
* garlicwort
* gentianwort
* gipsywort
* glasswort
* goutwort
* gutwort
* gypsywort
* hammerwort
* hartwort
* heathwort
* hillwort
* hogwort
* hog's wort
* holewort
* honewort
* honeywort
* hoodwort
* hornwort
* ironwort
* John's wort
* kelpwort
* kidneywort
* knotwort
* laserwort
* lazarwort
* leadwort
* lichwort
* lilywort
* liverwort
* lousewort
* lungwort *
* lustwort
* madderwort
* madwort * (Alyssum spp.)
* mallowwort
* marshwort
* masterwort
* maudlinwort
* maywort
* meadowwort
* milkwort (Polygala spp.)
* miterwort
* mitrewort
* modiwort
* moneywort
* moonwort
* moorwort
* motherwort
* moudiewort, moudiwort, mowdiewort
* mudwort
* mugwort
* mulewort
* nailwort
* navelwort *
* nettlewort
* nipplewort
* peachwort
* pearlwort
* pennywort *
* pepperwort
* peterwort
* pilewort
* pillwort (Pilularia spp.)
* pipewort
* quillwort
* quinsywort
* ragwort * (Senecioneae spp.)
* rattlewort
* ribwort
* rosewort
* rupturewort
* St. John's wort
* saltwort
* sandwort
* sawwort, saw-wort
* scorpionwort
* scurvywort (Cochlearia)
* setterwort
* sicklewort
* sleepwort
* slipperwort
* sneezewort (Achillea ptarmica)
* soapwort
* sparrowwort
* spearwort (Ranunculus flammula)
* spiderwort (Tradescantia spp.)
* spleenwort * (Asplenium spp.)
* spoonwort
* springwort
* spurwort
* St. James' wort
* St. John's wort
* St. Peter's wort
* stabwort
* staggerwort
* staithwort
* standerwort
* starwort *
* staverwort
* stinkwort
* stitchwort
* stonewort
* strapwort
* sulphurwort (Peucedanum officinale)
* swallow-wort *
* sweetwort
* talewort
* tetterwort
* thoroughwort
* throatwort * (Trachelium caeruleum)
* thrumwort
* toothwort
* towerwort
* trophywort
* wallwort
* wartwort (Euphorbia, Lapsana communis)
* waterwort (Elatinaceae spp.)
* willowwort (Salicaceae spp.)
* wortcunning
* wortlike
* wortlore
* worts (soup or stew made with vegetables, etc., obsolete)
* worty
* woundwort *
* yellowwort (Blackstonia perfoliata)
* This entry contains other derived terms with the word wort.

##### Translations
### Etymology 2

From Middle English wort, worte (“infusion of grain (probably malted barley) for brewing ale or beer; unfermented or incompletely fermented beer; infusion of honey and water for making mead; unfermented decoction or infusion of other substances used for food or medicine”) [and other forms], from Old English wurt, wyrt, wyrte (“wort in brewing”), from a merger of Proto-West Germanic *wurtiju (“wort in brewing; seasoning, spice”) and *wurti (“root; spice”), both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (“a root”): see further at etymology 1.
* Dutch wort (“wort in brewing”)
* Middle Low German wert, werte (“infusion of malt in brewing; unfermented beer”)
* Old High German wirz (“infusion of malt in brewing; unfermented beer”) (Middle High German wirz, modern German Wirz (“juice; sweet liquid; unfermented beer”) (obsolete); see also German Würze (“aroma; seasoning, spice; spiciness”))
* Old Norse virtr (Danish urt (“wort in brewing”), Icelandic virt, virtur, Norwegian vørter, Swedish vört)

#### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /wɜːt/, /wɔːt/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /wɝt/, /woɹt/
* Homophones: wert (one pronunciation), wart (one pronunciation)
* Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t, -ɔː(ɹ)t

#### Noun

wort (countable and uncountable, plural worts)
* (brewing, distilling) Also worts: a liquid extracted from mash (ground malt or some other grain soaked in hot water), which is then fermented to make beer, or fermented and distilled to make a malt liquor such as whisky.
** c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 138, column 2:Nay then tvvo treyes, an if you grovv ſo nice, / Methegline, VVort, and Malmſey; […]
** 1697, William Dampier, chapter XI, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 314:VVhen they make drink vvith them, they take 10 or 12 ripe Plantains and maſh them vvell in a Trough: then they put tvvo gallons of VVater among them; and this in tvvo hours time vvill ferment and froth like VVort: In four hours it is fit to drink; and then they bottle it and drink it as they have occaſion: […]
** 2004, Harold McGee, “Wine, Beer, and Distilled Spirits”, in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, revised edition, New York, N.Y., London: Scribner, →ISBN, page 747:Making the wort with nothing but barley malt and hot water is the standard method in Germany, and in many U.S. microbreweries.
** 2017, Jon C. Stott, “The Birds and the Yeasts in Tillamook”, in Beer 101 North: Craft Breweries and Brewpubs of the Washington and Oregon Coasts, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 110:They discovered what are called "wild" or "spontaneously fermented" beers, in which fermentation is induced not by pitching commercially produced yeast into an enclosed tank, but by letting the wild yeasts floating in the air interact with the wort to turn it into alcohol.

##### Derived terms

* mashwort

##### Translations
### References

* ↑ “wǒrt, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* ↑ Compare “wort, n.$^1$”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2021.
* 1 2 “wort, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
* ↑ “wǒrt, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* ↑ Compare “wort, n.$^2$”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, March 2023.

### Further reading

* list of wort plants on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* wort (brewing) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
* “wort”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

### Anagrams

* ROTW, Trow, rowt, trow

## Alemannic German
### Alternative forms

* wòrt, wört, wourd, wuart

### Etymology

From Middle High German wort. Cognate with German Wort, Dutch woord, English word, Icelandic orð.

### Noun

wort n
* (Formazza) word

### References

* Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

## Dutch
### Etymology

From Middle Dutch worte, from Old Dutch *wurta, from Proto-West Germanic *wurtiju.

### Pronunciation

* Audio:(file)

### Noun

wort n (uncountable)
* wort (unfermented beer)

## Middle Dutch
### Etymology

From Old Dutch wort.

### Noun

wort n or f
* word
* diction, what someone says or writes
* prescription, order

#### Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

#### Alternative forms

* wōort

#### Descendants

* Dutch: woord
* Limburgish: waord, waordj

### Further reading

* “wort”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
* Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “wort (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

## Middle English
### Etymology 1

From Old English wyrt (“plant, herb”), from Proto-West Germanic *wurti, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (oblique stem *wurt-), from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds. Doublet of rote (“root”).

#### Alternative forms

* wert, woort, worte, wrt, wurte, wuyrte, wyrte

#### Pronunciation

* (mainly Early ME) IPA: /ˈwirt/
* IPA: /ˈwurt/

#### Noun

wort (plural wortes or worten)
* A plant (not including trees, shrubs, etc.):
** c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, Matheu 13:31-32, page 6v, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:An oþer parable iheſus puttide foꝛþ to hem. / ⁊ ſeide / þe kyngdom of heuenes is lijk to a coꝛn of ſeneuey · which a man took ⁊ ſewe in his feeld · / which is þe leeſt of alle ſeedis / but whanne it haþ woxen .· it is the mooſt of alle woꝛtis · ⁊ is maad a tre / ſo þe bꝛiddis of þe eir comen ⁊ dwellen in þe bowis þerof.Jesus put another parable forwards to them, saying: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in their field; / it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is the largest of all plants; it becomes a tree, so the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."
** A plant that is wild or not cultivated or harvested.
** A plant that is harvested or grown; often as a herb or vegetable.
** A plant employed for supposed curative or medical properties.
** A leaf as part of a salad or other vegetable dish.

##### Usage notes

This term is often used in compounds.

##### Related terms

* bonwort
* brotherwort
* lyverwort
* medewort
* moderwort
* mugwort
* penywort
* sperwort
* walwort

##### Descendants

* English: wort
* Fingallian: wolt

##### References

* “wǒrt, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-22.

### Etymology 2

From Old English wyrt (“wort”), from Proto-West Germanic *wurtiju.

#### Alternative forms

* woort, worte, wrt, wurt, wurte

#### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈwurt/

#### Noun

wort (uncountable)
* Wort (as in brewing) or an analogous mixture (e.g. used for mead)

##### Descendants

* English: wort
* Scots: wort, wirt

##### References

* “wǒrt, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-22.

## Middle High German
### Etymology

Inherited from Old High German wort. The sense verb is a literal translation of Latin verbum.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: (before 13th CE) /ˈwort/

### Noun

wort n
* word
* (grammar) verb
** 14th century, Heinrich von Mügeln. Normalised spellings: 1867, Karl Julis Schröer, Die Dichtungen Heinrichs von Mügeln (Mogelîn) nach den Handschriften besprochen, Wien, p. 476:
    Nam, vornam, wort, darnâch zûwort, teilfanc, zûfûg ich sach, vorsatz, înworf under irem dach gemunzet und geformet stân.(please add an English translation of this quotation)

#### Descendants

* Alemannic German:
    Alsatian: Wort
    Italian Walser: wort, wourd, wuart, wòrt, wört
    Swabian: Wort
* Bavarian: Wort, Wurt
    Cimbrian: bóart, bort (Luserna, Tredici Comuni)
    Mòcheno: bourt
    Udinese: boart, bort, bört
* Central Franconian: Woot, Wort (Moselle Franconian; some dialects of Ripuarian)
    Hunsrik: Wort
* German: Wort
* Luxembourgish: Wuert
* Vilamovian: wiüt
* Yiddish: וואָרט (vort)

## Middle Scots
### Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle English wort.

#### Noun

wort
* wort (the infusion of malt which is fermented to become beer)

##### Alternative forms

* wirt

### Etymology 2

Inherited from Middle English wrot.

#### Noun

wort
* snout of a pig

### Etymology 3

Inherited from Middle English wroten.

#### Verb

wort
* (of a suine) to root up, dig (up)
* (also figuratively) to root

##### Conjugation

This entry needs an inflection-table template.

### References

* “wort”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.

## Old Dutch
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *word.

### Noun

wort n
* word

#### Descendants

* Middle Dutch: wort
** Dutch: woord
** Limburgish: waord, waordj

#### Further reading

* “wort”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

## Old High German
### Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *word, whence also Old Dutch wort, Old Saxon and Old English word, Old Norse orð, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (waurd). The sense verb is a literal translation of Latin verbum.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈwort/

### Noun

wort n
* word
* (grammar) verb

#### Descendants

* Middle High German: wort
** Alemannic German:
    Alsatian: Wort
    Italian Walser: wort, wourd, wuart, wòrt, wört
    Swabian: Wort
** Bavarian: Wort, Wurt
    Cimbrian: bóart, bort (Luserna, Tredici Comuni)
    Mòcheno: bourt
    Udinese: boart, bort, bört
** Central Franconian: Woot, Wort (Moselle Franconian; some dialects of Ripuarian)
    Hunsrik: Wort
** German: Wort
** Luxembourgish: Wuert
** Vilamovian: wiüt
** Yiddish: וואָרט (vort)