Etymology
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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
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wormwood (countable and uncountable, plural wormwoods)
- 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.
- (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
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Translations
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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
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figurative: that which causes bitterness
Further reading
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Anagrams
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