spurge

English

spotted spurge (Euphorbia maculata)

wood spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides)

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /spɜːdʒ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /spɜɹdʒ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Audio (General American):

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• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)dʒ

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.

2. Any plant of the spurge family, Euphorbiaceae.

   Synonym: euphorbia

3. A plant resembling those in genus Euphorbia in some aspect of its appearance.

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)
• 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)
• leafy spurge, green spurge (Euphorbia esula)
• Indian spurge tree (Euphorbia neriifolia)
• Indian tree spurge, milk bush (Euphorbia tirucalli)
• leafless milk hedge (Euphorbia caducifolia)
• leafy milk hedge (Euphorbia nivulia)
• Madagascar jewel (Euphorbia leuconeura)
• Mediterranean spurge (Euphorbia characias)
• Medusa's head (Euphorbia caput-medusae)
• milk bush (Euphorbia tirucalli)
• mottled spurge, frilled fan, elkhorn (Euphorbia lactea)
• myrtle spurge, creeping spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites)
• painted spurge, painted euphorbia, Mexican fireplant (Euphorbia heterophylla)
• petty spurge (Euphorbia peplus)
• Peking spurge (Euphorbia pekinensis)
• pencil tree (Euphorbia tirucalli)
• poinsettia, painted leaf (Euphorbia pulcherrima)
• purple spurge (Euphorbia peplis)
• rattlesnake weed, white-margined sandmat (Euphorbia albomarginata)
• red spurge (Euphorbia cotinifolia)
• 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

• balsam spurge
• Allegheny spurge, Allegheny mountain spurge (Pachysandra procumbens)
• broom spurge (Amperea xiphoclada)
• caper spurge (Euphorbia lathyris)
• cliff spurge (Euphorbia misera)
• coast spurge (Euphorbia misera)
• creeping spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites)
• cushion spurge (Euphorbia epithymoides)
• cypress spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias)
• dwarf spurge (Euphorbia exigua)
• flowering spurge (Euphorbia corollata)
• glade spurge (Euphorbia purpurea)
• gopher spurge (Euphorbia lathyris, Euphorbia rigida)
• graveyard spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias)
• green spurge (Euphorbia esula)
• Gregersen's spurge (Euphorbia gregersenii)
• Griffith's spurge (Euphorbia griffithii)
• hairy spurge (Euphorbia hirsuta)
• Hall's shrubby spurge (Tetracoccus hallii))
• Indian spurge tree (Euphorbia neriifolia)
• Indian tree spurge (Euphorbia tirucalli)
• ipecac spurge (Euphorbia ipecacuanhae)
• Japanese spurge (Pachysandra terminalis)
• knotweed spurge (Euphorbia polygonifolia)
• leaf spurge, leafy spurge (Euphorbia esula)
• Mediterranean spurge (Euphorbia characias)
• mottled spurge (Euphorbia lactea)
• myrtle spurge (Euphorbia myrsinites, Euphorbia lathyris)
• nettlespurge (Jatropha spp.)
• painted spurge (Euphorbia heterophylla)
• paper spurge (Euphorbia lathyris)
• Peking spurge (Euphorbia pekinensis)
• petty spurge (Euphorbia peplus)
• pill-bearing spurge (Euphorbia pilulifera)
• prairie spurge (Chamaesyce nuttallii)
• prostrate spurge (Euphorbia maculata)
• purple spurge (Euphorbia purpurea)
• red spurge Euphorbia cotinifolia)
• resin spurge (Euphorbia resinifera)
• sand spurge (Euphorbia psammogeton)
• sawtooth spurge (Euphorbia serrata)
• seaside spurge (Euphorbia polygonifolia)
• sea spurge (Euphorbia paralias)
• serrated spurge (Euphorbia serrata)
• shore spurge (Euphorbia polygonifolia)
• silver spurge (Euphorbia rigida)
• slipper spurge (Euphorbia tithymaloides)
• spotted spurge (Euphorbia maculata)
• spurge daphne (Daphne laureola)
• spurge flax (Thymelaea passerina)
• spurge hawk-moth (Hyles euphorbiae)
• spurge laurel (Daphne laureola)
• spurge nettle (Cnidoscolus stimulosus)
• spurge olive (Thymelaea passerina, Cneorum tricoccon)
• stubble spurge (Euphorbia maculata)
• sun spurge (Euphorbia helioscopia)
• toothed spurge (Euphorbia dentata)
• tramp's spurge (Euphorbia corollata)
• tree spurge (Euphorbia dendroides)
• upright myrtle spurge (Euphorbia rigida)
• variegated spurge (Euphorbia marginata)
• wart spurge (Euphorbia helioscopia)
• white-margined spurge (Euphorbia marginata)
• wild spurge (Euphorbia corollata)
• wood spurge (Euphorbia amygdaloides)

Translations

any plant of the genus Euphorbia

• Armenian: իշակաթնուկ (hy) (išakatʻnuk)
• Bats: მათხეჼ (matxẽ)
• Bulgarian: млечка f (mlečka)
• Catalan: lleteresa, lletera
• 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
• Serbo-Croatian: mlječika (sh) f
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wjelceńc m

  Upper Sorbian: mlóčeń

• Spanish: euforbio m, lechetrezna f
• Svan: მჷლჷჯო̄ლ (mələǯōl)
• Swahili: mkweche
• Swedish: törel (sv) c
• Tamil: கள்ளி (ta) (kaḷḷi)
• Welsh: llaethlys
• Xhosa: intsema, umhlontlo

References

• spurge on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Euphorbia on Wikispecies.Wikispecies
• Category: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.