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-Germanic *wermōdaz (“wormwood”). Cognate with Middle Low German wermode, wermede (“wormwood”), German Wermut (“wormwood”). See vermouth.

Pronunciation

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

  wormwood

  (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.
   • ca. 1591–95, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, 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, King James Version, 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.

   • ca. 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, Children of the Night, "Cliff Klingenhagen":

     Cliff took two glasses and filled one with wine

     And one with wormwood.

2. Anything that causes bitterness or affliction.

Synonyms

• (Artemisia absinthium): grande wormwood, absinthe
• (similar plants): artemisia, mugwort, absinthe, Artemisia pontica

Derived terms

• common wormwood
• tree wormwood
• wormwood hare

Translations

Artemisia absinthium

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

  Moroccan Arabic: شْيبة‎‎ f (šiba)

• Asturian: axenxu m
• Bashkir: әрем (ärem)
• Basque: asentsio
• Belarusian: палын 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)

• Czech: pelyněk (cs) m, pelyněk pravý (cs) m
• Danish: malurt c
• Dutch: alsem (nl) m
• Erzya: шурьма (šurʹma)
• Esperanto: absinto (eo)
• Estonian: koirohi
• Finnish: koiruoho (fi), mali (fi)
• French: armoise (fr) f, absinthe (fr) f
• Galician: absintio (gl) m, asento m, asente (gl) m
• Georgian: ავშანი (avšani), აბზინდა (ka) (abzinda)
• German: Wermut (de) m
• Greek: αψιθιά (el) f (apsithiá), αρτεμισία (el) f (artemisía)

  Ancient: ἀψίνθιον n (apsínthion)

• Hebrew: ארטימיסיה‎‎ f (artimisía), לענה‎‎ (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 (nigayomogi)
• Korean: 향쑥 (hyang ssuk)
• Macedonian: пелин m (pélin)
• Maori: taru kawa
• 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)
• Serbo-Croatian:

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

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

• Slovak: palina 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
• Ukrainian: поли́н m (polýn)
• Vietnamese: ngải cứu (vi)
• Walloon: foirt (wa) m, absinte (wa) f
• Welsh: wermod lwyd

that which causes bitterness

• Finnish: karvasaine
• French: fiel (fr) m, amertume (fr) f
• Greek: χολή (el) f (cholí)
• 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 f

Further reading

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

Anagrams

• woodworm