old man's pepper
old man's pepper noun: achillea millefolium or common yarrow, a flowering plant native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
Noun
old man's pepper (uncountable)
- Achillea millefolium or common yarrow, a flowering plant native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
- It’s foliage is slightly pungent, and hence its familiar name of Old Man’s Pepper. The Icelandic appellation of this plant, Vall humall, Field hop, seems to imply that it has been used instead of hops in that island, as it still is in some parts of Sweden.1852, Anne Pratt, “Common yarrow or milfoil”, in Wild Flowers, Volume 1, page 79
- The leaves are pungent and were formerly mingled with colder herbs as a seasoning; Hence called “Old man’s pepper.”1857 September, “Rambles around Bristol”, in Bristol Magazine and West of England Monthly Review, page 248
Origin of old man's pepper
Compound of old + man's + pepper, presumably so-called for its pungent flavor (see quotations below).
Questions about old man's pepper
- What does old man's pepper mean?
- Old man's pepper means achillea millefolium or common yarrow, a flowering plant native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
- What part of speech is old man's pepper?
- Old man's pepper is a noun.
Words near old man's pepper in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: old man's pepper (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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