wormwood
UK/ˈwɜːm.wʊd/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
British/ˈwəːm.wɵd/
wormwood noun: 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.
Noun
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.
- 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!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...
- 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.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Jeremiah 9:15
- Synonyms:
- common wormwood, grande wormwood, absinthe, mugwort, artemisia
- Something that causes bitterness or affliction; a cause of mortification or vexation.
- The irony of this reply was wormwood to Zeluco; he fell into a gloomy fit of musing, and made no farther inquiry […].1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 57
- Yet I think the Archdeacon, a "new man," to whom the aristocratic Canon's popularity was wormwood, did dislike him.1897, Stanley John Weyman, “The Deanery Ball”, in For the Cause
Proper noun capitalized: Wormwood
Wormwood (countable and uncountable, plural Wormwoods)
- A star or angel that appears in the Book of Revelation, turning waters bitter and poisonous.
- And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
And the name of the star is called Wormwood: and the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the...1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Revelation 8:10–11
- And the third angel sounded, and there fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters;
- A surname.
- Having got the address from the school records, Miss Honey set out to walk from her own home to the Wormwoods’ house shortly after nine.2013, Roald Dahl, Matilda, London: Puffin, →OCLC, page 86
wormwood meaning in Tamil, Tagalog, Arabic and Persian
wormwood in Tamil
- Artemisia absinthium
- மருக்கொழுந்து marukkoḻuntu
wormwood in Tagalog
- Artemisia absinthium
- ahenho
wormwood in Arabic
- Artemisia absinthium
- حَبَق اَلرَّاعِيّ ḥabaq ar-rāʕiyy
wormwood in Persian
- Artemisia absinthium
- افسنطین afsentin, درمنه daramne
More languagesFewer languages
- wormwood in Thai
- โกฏจุฬาลำพา kot chulaalamphuaua
- wormwood in Vietnamese
- ngải cứu
Examples of wormwood in a sentence
- Amongst the herbs to be administered when the charm was sung over him were a yew-berry, lupin, helenium, marsh mallow, dock, elder, wormwood and strawberry leaves.1922, Eleanour Sinclair Rohde, The Old English Herbals, London: Longmans, Green and Co., page 16:
- Tradition credits John the Baptist with wearing a girdle fashioned of wormwood, while he was in the wilderness.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 1:
Synonyms of wormwood
- common wormwood
- grande wormwood
- absinthe
- mugwort
- artemisia
Forms of wormwood
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | wormwoods |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Wormwoods |
Origin of wormwood
From Middle English wormwode, a folk etymology (as if worm + wood) of wermode (“wormwood”), from Old English wermōd (“wormwood, absinthe”), from Proto-West Germanic *warjamōdā (“wormwood”). Cognate with Middle Low German wermode, wermede (“wormwood”), German Wermut (“wormwood”). Doublet of vermouth.
Words formed from wormwood
- African wormwood
- annual wormwood
- common wormwood
- gall and wormwood
- Roman wormwood
- Russian wormwood
- salt of wormwood
- sea wormwood
- sweet wormwood
- tree wormwood
- wormwood hare
- Wormwood Scrubs
Phrases with wormwood
Questions about wormwood
- What does wormwood mean?
- Wormwood means 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.
- What is wormwood in Tamil?
- Wormwood in Tamil is மருக்கொழுந்து (marukkoḻuntu). See Wormwood meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use wormwood in a sentence?
- Amongst the herbs to be administered when the charm was sung over him were a yew-berry, lupin, helenium, marsh mallow, dock, elder, wormwood and strawberry leaves.
- What part of speech is wormwood?
- Wormwood can be a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce wormwood?
- Wormwood is pronounced /ˈwɜːm.wʊd/ (UK).
- What is the plural of wormwood?
- The plural of wormwood is wormwoods.
Words near wormwood in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: wormwood (page history and authors); Wormwood (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-wormwood.ogg.
Cite this entry: “wormwood.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/wormwood. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.