Word.ws English Dictionary

eruca

eruca noun: caterpillar; larva.

Noun

eruca (plural erucae)

  1. Caterpillar; larva.
  2. Arugula: rocket.
    • The eruca, or rocket, so called from the Greek, […] was had in so great esteem heretofore, as to its efficacy in conjugal performances, that many of the antient authors, both in poetry and prose, make mention of it purely for that purpose:[…]1727, Stephen SWITZER, The Practical Kitchen Gardiner: Or, a New and Entire System of Directions for His Employment in the Melonry, Kitchen-garden, and Potagery, in the Several Seasons of the Year...
    • Eruca, or Garden Rocket, was formerly much used as a salad herb, but has been long rejected on account of its ungrateful smell.1822, Stephen Reynolds Clarke, Hortus Anglicanus; or, The modern English garden, by the author of the British botanist, page 171

Forms of eruca

pluralerucae

Origin of eruca

Borrowed from Latin eruca, in its senses of "caterpillar" and "colewort" respectively. Cognate with arugula, rucola, rocket, roquette.

Words formed from eruca

Questions about eruca

What does eruca mean?
Eruca means caterpillar; larva.
What part of speech is eruca?
Eruca is a noun.
What is the plural of eruca?
The plural of eruca is erucae.

Words near eruca in the dictionary

  1. erubescent
  2. erubescite
  3. erubescites
  4. eruboside
  5. erubs
  6. eruca
  7. erucae
  8. erucamide
  9. erucate
  10. erucates
  11. erucic

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: eruca (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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