wormwood

See also: Wormwood

English

Etymology

From Middle English wormwode, a folk etymology (as if worm +‎ wood) of wermode (“wormwood”), from Old English wermōd, wormōd (“wormwood, absinthe”), from Proto-West Germanic *warjamōdā (“wormwood”). Cognate with Middle Low German wermode, wermede (“wormwood”), German Wermut (“wormwood”). Doublet of vermouth.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈwə(ɹ)m.wʊd/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈwɚm.wʊd/
• (US)

  Audio:

  (file)

Noun

wormwood (countable and uncountable, plural wormwoods)

1. An intensely bitter herb (Artemisia absinthium and similar plants in genus Artemisia) used in medicine, in the production of absinthe and vermouth, and as a tonic.

   Synonyms: grande wormwood, absinthe, mugwort, artemisia

   • c. 1591–1595 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Romeo and Ivliet”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii (the nurse's monologue)]:

     But as I said, / When it did taste the wormwood on the nipple / Of my dug and felt it bitter, pretty fool, / To see it tetchy and fall out with the dug!

   • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 9:15:

     Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel; Behold, I will feed them, even this people, with wormwood, and give them water of gall to drink.

   • c. 1864, John Clare, We passed by green closes:

     Blue skippers in sunny hours ope and shut
     Where wormwood and grunsel flowers by the cart ruts […]

   • 1897, Edwin Arlington Robinson, “Cliff Klingenhagen”, in Children of the Night:

     Cliff took two glasses and filled one with wine
     And one with wormwood.

2. (figurative) Something that causes bitterness or affliction; a cause of mortification or vexation.
   • 1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 57:

     The irony of this reply was wormwood to Zeluco; he fell into a gloomy fit of musing, and made no farther inquiry […] .

Derived terms

• African wormwood
• annual wormwood
• common wormwood
• gall and wormwood
• Roman wormwood
• salt of wormwood
• sea wormwood
• sweet wormwood
• tree wormwood
• wormwood hare

 

Translations

Artemisia absinthium

• Albanian: pelin i zi ?, pelin (sq) m
• Arabic: حَبَق اَلرَّاعِيّ m (ḥabaq ar-rāʕiyy)

  Egyptian Arabic: صبر m (ṣabr)

  Moroccan Arabic: شيبة f (šība)

• Armenian: օշինդր (hy) (ōšindr), բարձվենյակ (hy) (barjvenyak)
• Asturian: axenxu m
• Azerbaijani: yovşan (az)
• Bashkir: әрем (ərem)
• Basque: asentsio
• Belarusian: палы́н f (palýn)
• Bulgarian: пелин (bg) m (pelin)
• Catalan: donzell (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 苦艾 (fu² ngaai⁶)

  Mandarin: 苦艾 (zh) (kǔ'ài), 中亞苦蒿／中亚苦蒿 (Zhōngyǎ kǔhāo)

• Chuvash: армути (armut̬i)
• Czech: pelyněk (cs) m, pelyněk pravý (cs) m
• Danish: malurt c
• Dutch: absintalsem (nl) m
• Erzya: шурьма (šuŕma)
• Esperanto: absinto (eo)
• Estonian: koirohi (et)
• Finnish: koiruoho (fi), mali (fi)
• French: armoise (fr) f, absinthe (fr) f
• Gagauz: pelin
• Galician: absintio (gl) m, asento m, asente (gl) m, axenxo m, alosna f (archaic)
• Georgian: ავშანი (avšani), აბზინდა (ka) (abzinda)
• German: Wermut (de) m
• Greek: αψιθιά (el) f (apsithiá), αρτεμισία (el) f (artemisía)

  Ancient: ἄψινθος m or f (ápsinthos), ἀψίνθιον n (apsínthion)

• Hebrew: ארטימיסיה f (artimisía), לַעֲנָה (he) f (la'ana)
• Hungarian: fehér üröm (hu)
• Ido: absinto (io)
• Interlingua: absinthio
• Irish: mormónta m

  Middle Irish: mormónt m

• Italian: assenzio (it) m
• Japanese: 苦蓬 (ja) (nigayomogi)
• Komi-Permyak: вӧвбӧж (vövböž)
• Komi-Zyrian: батӧг (batög), кӧинакань (köinakań)
• Korean: 향쑥 (hyangssuk)
• Latin: absinthium n, batypicron n (Late Latin)
• Lombard: medeghet (lmo) m
• Macedonian: пе́лин m (pélin)
• Maori: taru kawa
• Mari:

  Eastern Mari: арым (arym), арымшудо (arymšudo)

  Western Mari: шодышуды (šodyšudy)

• Middle English: wormwode
• Norman: lianne f (Jersey), hèrbe à puches f (Jersey), absînthe f (Jersey)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: malurt m

  Nynorsk: malurt m

• Ojibwe: moosewijiibik, moose-ojiibik
• Persian: افسنطین (fa) (afsentin), درمنه (fa) (daramne)
• Polish: piołun (pl) m
• Portuguese: absinto (pt) m
• Romanian: pelin (ro) m
• Russian: полы́нь (ru) f (polýnʹ), чернобыль (ru) m (černobylʹ)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: пелен m (Bosnian, Serbian), пѐлин m (Croatian)

  Roman: pelen (sh) m (Bosnian, Serbian), pèlin (sh) m (Croatian)

• Slovak: palina (sk) f
• Slovene: pelin (sl) m
• Spanish: ajenjo (es) m, absintio (es) m, alosna f
• Swedish: malört (sv) c, äkta malört c
• Tagalog: ahenho
• Tashelhit: ⵛⵉⴱⴰ f (šiba)
• Thai: โกฏจุฬาลำพา (kot chulaalamphuaua)
• Turkish: pelin (tr)
• Tuvan: чашпан (çaşpan)
• Udmurt: зынпот (zynpot), арым (arym)
• Ukrainian: поли́н m (polýn), чорнобиль m (čornobylʹ)
• Venetian: ménego maèstro
• Vietnamese: ngải cứu (vi)
• Walloon: foirt (wa) m, absinte (wa) f
• Welsh: wermod lwyd

figurative: that which causes bitterness

• Bulgarian: обида (bg) f (obida), огорчение (bg) n (ogorčenie)
• Finnish: rikki (fi)
• French: fiel (fr) m, amertume (fr) f
• German: Wermutstropfen (de) m
• Greek: χολή (el) f (cholí)
• Macedonian: пе́лин m (pélin), го́рчина f (górčina)
• Portuguese: amargura (pt) f
• Russian: го́речь (ru) f (górečʹ), жёлчь (ru) f (žolčʹ), желчь (ru) f (želčʹ), раздражи́тельность (ru) f (razdražítelʹnostʹ)
• Slovene: pelin (sl) m
• Spanish: amargor (es) m, amargura (es) f, mortificación (es) f

Further reading

• Artemisia absinthium on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Artemisia absinthium on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Artemisia absinthium on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons

Anagrams

• woodworm