wort

See also: Wort, wòrt, and wört

English
WOTD – 22 April 2023

Etymology 1
PIE word
*wréh₂ds
A cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata f. alba). Cabbages were formerly also known as worts (sense 2).
A smooth hornwort (Phaeoceros laevis), a type of wort (sense 3).

From Middle English wort, wurt, wyrte (“any herb or plant; herb or plant used as food or medicine; (specifically) cabbage or vegetable of the genus Brassica; (chiefly plural) dish of cooked vegetables”) [and other forms],[1] from Old English wyrt (“a plant; vegetable; herb, spice”) [and other forms], from Proto-West Germanic *wurti (“a root; a spice”), from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (“a root”), from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds (“a root”).[2][3] Doublet of root and related to orchard.

cognates

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /wɜːt/, /wɔːt/
  • Audio (Southern England)(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /wɝt/, /woɹt/
  • Homophones: wert (one pronunciation), wart (one pronunciation)
  • Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)t, -ɔː(ɹ)t

Noun

wort (plural worts)

  1. (archaic or historical) Now chiefly as the second element in the names of plants: a plant used for food or medicine.
    (food): Synonyms: herb, potherb, vegetable
    (medicine): Synonym: herb
    • 1531, Thomas Elyot, “Of Sobrietie in Diete”, in Ernest Rhys, editor, The Boke Named the Governour […] (Everyman’s Library), London: J[oseph] M[alaby] Dent & Co; New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Co, published [1907], →OCLC, 3rd book, page 264:
      [T]he people of his citye, […] shulde be norysshed with barly brede and cakes of whete, and that the residue of their diete shulde be salte, olyues, chese, and likes, and more ouer wortes that the feldes do brynge furthe, for their potage.
    • 1621, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Pouerty and Want Causes of Melancholy”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy, […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and Iames Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 4, subsection 6, page 207:
      [H]e [a poor person] drinks vvater, and liue's of vvort leaues, pulſe, like a hog, or ſcraps like a dog, […]
    • 1653, Jer[emy] Taylor, “[XXV Sermons Preached at Golden Grove: Being for the Winter Half-year, […].] Sermon XVI. The House of Feasting: Or The Epicures Measures. Part II.”, in ΕΝΙΑΥΤΟΣ [Eniautos]. A Course of Sermons for All the Sundays of the Year. […], 2nd edition, London: […] Richard Royston […], published 1655, →OCLC, page 204:
      It is an excellent pleaſure to be able to take pleaſure in vvorts and vvater, in bread and onions; […]
    • 1999 November, Victoria Zak, “A Modern Herbal Tea Garden”, in 20,000 Secrets of Tea: The Most Effective Ways to Benefit from Nature’s Healing Herbs, New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing, →ISBN, page 209:
      Two saints are credited with giving St. John's wort its name. One was St. John of Jerusalem, who used the wort (plant) during the crusades to heal his knights' battlefield wounds, and the other was John the Baptist.
  2. (specifically, historical) Chiefly in the plural: a plant of the genus Brassica used as a vegetable; a brassica; especially, a cabbage (Brassica oleracea).
  3. (by extension, botany) A non-vascular plant growing on land from the division Anthocerotophyta (the hornworts) or Marchantiophyta (liverworts); an anthocerotophyte or marchantiophyte.
Derived terms
Terms derived from wort

* This entry contains other derived terms with the word wort.

Translations
plant of the genus Brassica used as a vegetable — see brassica
Brassica oleracea — see cabbage
non-vascular plant growing on land from the division Anthocerotophyta — see anthocerotophyte,‎ hornwort
non-vascular plant growing on land from the division Marchantiophyta — see liverwort,‎ marchantiophyte

Etymology 2
A wort used to brew beer.

From Middle English wort, worte (“infusion of grain (probably malted barley) for brewing ale or beer; unfermented or incompletely fermented beer; infusion of honey and water for making mead; unfermented decoction or infusion of other substances used for food or medicine”) [and other forms],[4] from Old English wurt, wyrt, wyrte (“wort in brewing”), from a merger of Proto-West Germanic *wurtiju (“wort in brewing; seasoning, spice”) and *wurti (“root; spice”), both ultimately from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (“a root”): see further at etymology 1.[3][5]

cognates

Pronunciation

Noun

wort (countable and uncountable, plural worts)

  1. (brewing, distilling) Also worts: a liquid extracted from mash (ground malt or some other grain soaked in hot water), which is then fermented to make beer or fermented and distilled to make a malt liquor such as whisky.
    • c. 1595–1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Loues Labour’s Lost”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], page 138, column 2:
      Nay then tvvo treyes, an if you grovv ſo nice, / Methegline, VVort, and Malmſey; […]
    • 1697, William Dampier, chapter XI, in A New Voyage Round the World. […], London: […] James Knapton, […], →OCLC, page 314:
      VVhen they make drink vvith them, they take 10 or 12 ripe Plantains and maſh them vvell in a Trough: then they put tvvo gallons of VVater among them; and this in tvvo hours time vvill ferment and froth like VVort: In four hours it is fit to drink; and then they bottle it and drink it as they have occaſion: […]
    • 2004, Harold McGee, “Wine, Beer, and Distilled Spirits”, in On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, revised edition, New York, N.Y., London: Scribner, →ISBN, page 747:
      Making the wort with nothing but barley malt and hot water is the standard method in Germany, and in many U.S. microbreweries.
    • 2017, Jon C. Stott, “The Birds and the Yeasts in Tillamook”, in Beer 101 North: Craft Breweries and Brewpubs of the Washington and Oregon Coasts, Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 110:
      They discovered what are called "wild" or "spontaneously fermented" beers, in which fermentation is induced not by pitching commercially produced yeast into an enclosed tank, but by letting the wild yeasts floating in the air interact with the wort to turn it into alcohol.
Derived terms
Translations

References
  1. “wǒrt, n.(1)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. Compare “wort, n.1”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2021.
  3. “wort, n.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  4. “wǒrt, n.(2)”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  5. Compare “wort, n.2”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2023.

Further reading

Anagrams

Alemannic German

Alternative forms

Etymology

From Middle High German wort. Cognate with German Wort, Dutch woord, English word, Icelandic orð.

Noun

wort n

  1. (Formazza) word

References

Dutch

Etymology

From Middle Dutch worte, from Old Dutch *wurta, from Proto-West Germanic *wurtiju.

Pronunciation
  • Audio(file)

Noun

wort n (uncountable)

  1. wort (unfermented beer)

Middle Dutch

Etymology

From Old Dutch wort.

Noun

wort n or f

  1. word
  2. diction, what someone says or writes
  3. prescription, order

Inflection

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Alternative forms

Descendants
  • Dutch: woord
  • Limburgish: waord, waordj

Further reading
  • “wort”, in Vroegmiddelnederlands Woordenboek, 2000
  • Verwijs, E., Verdam, J. (1885–1929) “wort (I)”, in Middelnederlandsch Woordenboek, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, →ISBN, page I

Middle English

Etymology 1

From Old English wyrt (“plant, herb”), from Proto-West Germanic *wurti, from Proto-Germanic *wrōts (oblique stem *wurt-), from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds. Doublet of rote (“root”).

Alternative forms

Pronunciation
  • (mainly Early ME) IPA(key): /ˈwirt/
  • IPA(key): /ˈwurt/

Noun

wort (plural wortes or worten)

  1. A plant (not including trees, shrubs, etc.):
    • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎, published c. 1410, Matheu 13:31-32, page 6v, column 1; republished as Wycliffe's translation of the New Testament, Lichfield: Bill Endres, 2010:
      An oþer parable iheſus puttide foꝛþ to hem. / ⁊ ſeide / þe kyngdom of heuenes is lijk to a coꝛn of ſeneuey · which a man took ⁊ ſewe in his feeld · / which is þe leeſt of alle ſeedis / but whanne it haþ woxen .· it is the mooſt of alle woꝛtis · ⁊ is maad a tre / ſo þe bꝛiddis of þe eir comen ⁊ dwellen in þe bowis þerof.
      Jesus put another parable forwards to them, saying: "The Kingdom of Heaven is like a mustard seed that a person took and sowed in their field; / it is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown, it is the largest of all plants; it becomes a tree, so the birds of the air come and nest in its branches."
    1. A plant that is wild or not cultivated or harvested.
    2. A plant that harvested or grown; often as a herb or vegetable.
    3. A plant employed for supposed curative or medical properties.
    4. A leaf as part of a salad or other vegetable dish.
Usage notes

This term is often used in compounds.

Descendants
References

Etymology 2

From Old English wyrt (“wort”), from Proto-West Germanic *wurtiju.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈwurt/

Noun

wort (uncountable)

  1. Wort (as in brewing) or an analogous mixture (e.g. used for mead)
Descendants
References

Middle High German

Etymology

From Old High German wort.
The sense verb is a literal translation of Latin verbum.

Noun

wort n

  1. word
  2. (grammar) verb
    • 14th century, Heinrich von Mügeln. Normalised spellings: 1867, Karl Julis Schröer, Die Dichtungen Heinrichs von Mügeln (Mogelîn) nach den Handschriften besprochen, Wien, p. 476:
      Nam, vornam, wort, darnâch
      zûwort, teilfanc, zûfûg ich sach,
      vorsatz, înworf under irem dach
      gemunzet und geformet stân.
      (please add an English translation of this quotation)

Declension
Declension of wort (neuter, a-stem)
singular plural
indef. def. noun def. noun
nominative ein daȥ wort diu wort
genitive eines dës wortes dër worte
dative einem dëm worte dën worten
accusative ein daȥ wort diu wort

Descendants

Old Dutch

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *word.

Noun

wort n

  1. word

Inflection

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head=wort
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Declension of wort
Singular Plural
nominative wort wort
accusative wort wort
genitive wordes wordo
dative worde wordon

Descendants

Further reading
  • “wort”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

Old High German

Etymology

From Proto-West Germanic *word, whence also Old Dutch wort, Old Saxon and Old English word, Old Norse orð, Gothic 𐍅𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌳 (waurd).
The sense verb is a literal translation of Latin verbum.

Pronunciation
  • IPA(key): /ˈwort/

Noun

wort n

  1. word
  2. (grammar) verb

Declension
Declension of wort (neuter a-stem)
case singular plural
nominative wort wort
accusative wort wort
genitive wortes worto
dative worte wortum
instrumental wortu —

Descendants

Scots

Etymology 1

Inherited from Middle English wort.

Noun

wort (uncountable)

  1. (Middle Scots) wort (the infusion of malt which is fermented to become beer)
Alternative forms

Etymology 2

Inherited from Middle English wrot.

Noun

wort (uncountable)

  1. (Middle Scots) snout of a pig

Etymology 3

Inherited from Middle English wroten.

Verb

wort (third-person singular simple present wortis, present participle worting or wortand, simple past worted or wortit, past participle worted or wortit)

  1. (Middle Scots, of a suine) to root up, dig (up)
  2. (Middle Scots, also figuratively) to root

References
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