wort
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /wɜːt/
ipa: /wɝt/
homophone: wert
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t
ipa: /wɔːt/
ipa: /woɹt/
homophone: wart
rhymes: -ɔː(ɹ)t
Forms: form: worts
Etymology: 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.
Cognates
* 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)
Senses: examples: text: [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.
ref: 1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Sobrietie in Diete”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 264:
text: [H]e [a poor person] drinks vvater, and liue's of vvort leaues, pulſe, like a hog, or ſcraps like a dog, […]
ref: 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:
text: It is an excellent pleaſure to be able to take pleaſure in vvorts and vvater, in bread and onions; […]
ref: 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:
text: 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.
ref: 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:
synonyms: herb
potherb
vegetable
herb
glosses: Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 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:
text: 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, […]
ref: 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:
text: 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: […]
ref: 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:
glosses: Chiefly in the plural: a plant of the genus Brassica used as a vegetable; a brassica; especially, a cabbage (Brassica oleracea).
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: A non-vascular plant growing on land from the division Anthocerotophyta (the hornworts) or Marchantiophyta (liverworts); an anthocerotophyte or marchantiophyte.
Derived terms: word: adder's wort
taxonomic: Bistorta officinalis
word: adderwort
taxonomic: Asteraceae spp.
word: asterwort
taxonomic: Subularia aquatica
word: awlwort
taxonomic: Ranunculus flammula
word: banewort
taxonomic: Epimedium alpinum
word: barrenwort
taxonomic: Meum athamanticum
word: bearwort
taxonomic: Campanulaceae spp.
word: bellwort
taxonomic: Trillium erectum
word: birthwort (Aristolochia,
taxonomic: Stachys officinalis
word: bishop's-wort
taxonomic: Gentiana lutea
word: bitterwort
taxonomic: Utricularia spp.
word: bladderwort
taxonomic: Centaurea cyanus
word: blawort
word: bloodwort
taxonomic: Aeschynanthus spp.
word: blushwort
taxonomic: Vaccinium myrtillus
word: bogwort
english: Boraginaceae
translation: Boraginaceae
word: boragewort
word: bridewort
taxonomic: Peucedanum officinale
word: brimstonewort
word: brotherwort
taxonomic: Scrophularia vernalis
word: brownwort
word: bruisewort
word: bugwort
word: bullwort
word: burstwort
word: butterwort
taxonomic: Kickxia spp.
word: cancerwort
word: catwort
word: clown's ringwort
word: colewort
word: coralwort
word: crosswort
word: damewort
word: danewort
word: dragonwort
word: dragon's wort
word: dropwort *
word: dungwort
word: earwort *
word: elderwort
word: fanwort
taxonomic: Solanum dulcamara
word: felonwort
taxonomic: Verbascum spp.
word: feltwort
taxonomic: Swertia spp.
word: felwort
taxonomic: Triosteum spp.
word: feverwort
taxonomic: Scrophularia spp.
word: figwort
taxonomic: Rachicallis americana
alt: syn. Rachicallis rupestris
word: flapwort
word: fleawort
word: flukewort
word: frostwort
word: fumewort
word: galewort
word: garlicwort
word: gentianwort
word: gipsywort
word: glasswort
word: goutwort
word: gutwort
word: gypsywort
word: hammerwort
word: hartwort
word: heathwort
word: hillwort
word: hogwort
word: hog's wort
word: holewort
word: honewort
word: honeywort
word: hoodwort
word: hornwort
word: ironwort
word: John's wort
word: kelpwort
word: kidneywort
word: knotwort
word: laserwort
word: lazarwort
word: leadwort
word: lichwort
word: lilywort
word: liverwort
word: lousewort
word: lungwort *
word: lustwort
word: madderwort
taxonomic: Alyssum spp.
word: madwort *
word: mallowwort
word: marshwort
word: masterwort
word: maudlinwort
word: maywort
word: meadowwort
taxonomic: Polygala spp.
word: milkwort
word: miterwort
word: mitrewort
word: modiwort
word: moneywort
word: moonwort
word: moorwort
word: motherwort
word: moudiewort
word: moudiwort
word: mowdiewort
word: mudwort
word: mugwort
word: mulewort
word: nailwort
word: navelwort *
word: nettlewort
word: nipplewort
word: peachwort
word: pearlwort
word: pennywort *
word: pepperwort
word: peterwort
word: pilewort
taxonomic: Pilularia spp.
word: pillwort
word: pipewort
word: quillwort
word: quinsywort
taxonomic: Senecioneae spp.
word: ragwort *
word: rattlewort
word: ribwort
word: rosewort
word: rupturewort
word: St. John's wort
word: shrubby St. John's wort
word: saltwort
word: sandwort
word: sawwort
word: saw-wort
word: scorpionwort
english: Cochlearia
translation: Cochlearia
word: scurvywort
word: setterwort
word: sicklewort
word: sleepwort
word: slipperwort
taxonomic: Achillea ptarmica
word: sneezewort
word: soapwort
word: sparrowwort
taxonomic: Ranunculus flammula
word: spearwort
taxonomic: Tradescantia spp.
word: spiderwort
taxonomic: Asplenium spp.
word: spleenwort *
word: spoonwort
word: springwort
word: spurwort
word: St. James' wort
word: St. Peter's wort
word: stabwort
word: staggerwort
word: staithwort
word: standerwort
word: starwort *
word: staverwort
word: stinkwort
word: stitchwort
word: stonewort
word: strapwort
taxonomic: Peucedanum officinale
word: sulphurwort
word: swallow-wort *
word: sweetwort
word: talewort
word: tetterwort
word: thoroughwort
taxonomic: Trachelium caeruleum
word: throatwort *
word: thrumwort
word: toothwort
word: towerwort
word: trophywort
word: wallwort
english: Euphorbia, Lapsana communis
translation: Euphorbia, Lapsana communis
word: wartwort
taxonomic: Elatinaceae spp.
word: waterwort
alt: Salicaceae spp.
word: willowwort
word: wortcunning
word: wortlike
word: wortlore
english: soup or stew made with vegetables
translation: soup or stew made with vegetables
word: worts
word: worty
word: woundwort *
taxonomic: Blackstonia perfoliata
word: yellowwort