wormwood

Meaning

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.
• Something that causes bitterness or affliction; a cause of mortification or vexation.

Origin

• From Middle English wormwode, a folk etymology (as if worm + wood) of wermode, from Old English wermōd, wormōd, from Proto-West Germanic *warjamōdā ("wormwood"). Cognate with Middle Low German wermode, wermede, German Wermut ("wormwood"). vermouth.