spurge

English

spotted spurge (Euphorbia maculata)

wood spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides)

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /spɝd͡ʒ/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /spɜːd͡ʒ/

  • Audio (General American):

    (file)

  • Audio (Southern England):

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)d͡ʒ

Etymology 1

Etymology tree

Old French espurgebor.

Middle English spurge

English spurge

Inherited from Middle English spurge, from Old French espurge, from espurgier (“to purge”), from Latin expurgo (“I purge”); the bitter milky sap of these plants was formerly used as a purgative.

Noun

spurge (usually uncountable, plural spurges)

1. Any plant of the genus Euphorbia, a diverse genus of over 2,000 species.
   • 1855, Robert Browning, Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, section X:

     But cockle, spurge, according to their law / Might propagate their kind, with none to awe, / You'd think; a burr had been a treasure trove.

   1. Any plant of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae.

      Synonym: euphorbia

Hypernyms

• malvid, fabid, rosid, eudicot, angiosperm, tracheophyte, plant

Hyponyms

• African milk barrel (Euphorbia horrida)
• African milk tree, cathedral cactus (Euphorbia trigona)
• asthma-plant (Euphorbia hirta)
• baseball plant (Euphorbia obesa)
• candelabra tree
• candelilla (Euphorbia antisyphilitica)
• caper spurge, gopher spurge, paper spurge (Euphorbia lathyris)
• cliff spurge, coast spurge (Euphorbia misera)
• copper tree (Euphorbia cotinifolia)
• crown-of-thorns, Christ plant (Euphorbia milii)
• cushion spurge (Euphorbia epithymoides)
• cypress spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias)
• devil's backbone, redbird cactus (Euphorbia tithymaloides)
• dwarf poinsettia, fire-on-the-mountain, wild poinsettia (Euphorbia cyathophora)
• glade spurge, purple spurge (Euphorbia purpurea)
• gopher spurge, upright myrtle spurge (Euphorbia rigida)
• Gregersen's spurge (Euphorbia gregersenii)
• Griffith's spurge (Euphorbia griffithii)
• Indian spurge tree (Euphorbia neriifolia)
• Indian tree spurge, milk bush, pencil tree (Euphorbia tirucalli)
• leafless milk hedge (Euphorbia caducifolia)
• leafy milk hedge (Euphorbia nivulia)
• leafy spurge, green spurge (Euphorbia esula)
• Madagascar jewel (Euphorbia leuconeura)
• Mediterranean spurge (Euphorbia characias)
• Medusa's head (Euphorbia caput-medusae)
• mottled spurge, frilled fan, elkhorn (Euphorbia lactea)
• myrtle spurge, creeping spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites)
• painted spurge, painted euphorbia, Mexican fireplant (Euphorbia heterophylla)
• Peking spurge (Euphorbia pekinensis)
• petty spurge (Euphorbia peplus)
• poinsettia, painted leaf (Euphorbia pulcherrima)
• purple spurge (Euphorbia peplis)
• rattlesnake weed, white-margined sandmat (Euphorbia albomarginata)
• resin spurge (Euphorbia resinifera)
• sand spurge (Euphorbia psammogeton)
• scarlet plume (Euphorbia fulgens)
• sea spurge (Euphorbia paralias)
• serrated spurge, sawtooth spurge (Euphorbia serrata)
• spotted spurge, prostrate spurge (Euphorbia maculata)
• sun spurge (Euphorbia helioscopia)
• tree spurge (Euphorbia dendroides)
• variegated spurge, white-margined spurge, snow-on-the-mountain, smoke-on-the-prairie (Euphorbia marginata)
• wood spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides)

 

Derived terms

• Allegheny spurge
• broom spurge
• caper spurge
• cliff spurge
• coast spurge
• creeping spurge
• cushion spurge
• cypress spurge
• glade spurge
• gopher spurge
• green spurge
• Gregersen's spurge
• Griffith's spurge
• Hall's shrubby spurge
• Indian spurge tree
• Indian tree spurge
• Japanese spurge
• leafy spurge
• Mediterranean spurge
• mottled spurge
• myrtle spurge
• painted spurge
• paper spurge
• Peking spurge
• petty spurge
• prostrate spurge
• purple spurge
• purple spurge
• resin spurge
• sand spurge
• sawtooth spurge
• sea spurge
• serrated spurge
• spotted spurge
• spurge daphne
• spurge flax
• spurge hawk-moth
• spurge laurel
• spurge nettle
• spurge olive
• sun spurge
• tree spurge
• upright myrtle spurge
• variegated spurge
• white-margined spurge
• wood spurge

 

Translations

any plant of the genus Euphorbia

• Armenian: իշակաթնուկ (hy) (išakatʻnuk)
• Bats: მათხეჼ (matxẽ)
• Bulgarian: млечка f (mlečka)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 大戟 (zh) (dàjǐ)

• Danish: vortemælk c
• Dutch: wolfsmelk (nl) f
• Finnish: tyräkki (fi)
• French: euphorbe (fr) f, épurge (fr) f
• Galician: surbia f
• Georgian: რძიანა (rʒiana)
• German: Wolfsmilch f
• Greek:

  Ancient: τιθύμαλλος m (tithúmallos)

• Hungarian: kutyatej (hu)
• Irish: bainne caoin m, buí na n-iníon m, buí na mbáb m, spuirse f
• Italian: euforbia f
• Japanese: 灯台草 (ja) (とうだいぐさ, tōdaigusa), ユーフォルビア (yūforubia)
• Laz: მჟაილა (mjaila)
• Macedonian: млечка f (mlečka), млечајка f (mlečajka)
• Middle English: spurge
• Mingrelian: მაბჟალია (mabžalia)
• Persian: شبرم (fa) (šebram)
• Polish: wilczomlecz m
• Portuguese: eufórbio (pt) m
• Romanian: aior (ro) m, alior (ro)
• Russian: молоча́й (ru) m (moločáj)
• Scottish Gaelic: spuirse f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wjelceńc m

• Spanish: euforbio m, lechetrezna f
• Svan: მჷლჷჯო̄ლ (mələǯōl)
• Swahili: mkweche
• Swedish: törel (sv) c
• Xhosa: intsema, umhlontlo

References

• spurge on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Euphorbia on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Euphorbia on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
• “*spurge*”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Etymology 2

Uncertain, but likely closely related to etymology 1, thus a doublet of purge.

Verb

spurge (third-person singular simple present spurges, present participle spurging, simple past and past participle spurged)

1. (intransitive) To emit foam; to froth; said of the emission of yeast from beer during fermentation.
   • 1661, W. Cartwright, Siedge:

     The body's somthing noysome: 'tis a stale one; / Good troth it spurgeth very monstrously.

Translations

of beer during fermentation: to emit foam

• Bulgarian: пеня се (penja se)
• Finnish: vaahdota (fi)

Anagrams

• Grupes, Super G, purges, super G

Middle English

Alternative forms

• sporge, spourge, spowrge

Etymology

Borrowed from Old French espurge, from espurgier, from Latin expurgo. Compare purgen.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈspurd͡ʒ(ə)/

Noun

spurge (uncountable)

1. spurge

Descendants

• English: spurge

References

• “spurǧe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.