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”). Doublet of vermouth.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈwə(ɹ)m.wʊd/

• 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.

   Synonym: grande wormwood, absinthe

2. Anything that causes bitterness or affliction.

   Synonyms: absinthe, artemisia, mugwort

Derived terms

• common wormwood
• tree wormwood
• wormwood hare

Translations

Artemisia absinthium

• Albanian: pelin i zi ?
• 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
• 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, 中亚苦蒿 (Zhōngyǎ kǔhāo)

• Czech: pelyněk (cs) m, pelyněk pravý (cs) m
• Danish: malurt c
• Dutch: alsem (nl) m
• Erzya: шурьма (šuŕma)
• 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 Greek: ἄψινθος m or f (ápsinthos), 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: 苦蓬 (nigayomogi)
• Korean: 향쑥 (hyang ssuk)
• Latin: apsinthium n
• Macedonian: пе́лин 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), 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
• Ukrainian: поли́н m (polýn)
• Venetian: ménego maèstro
• 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
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• 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
• Template:commonslite

Anagrams

• woodworm