wort

Meaning

Noun

• A plant; herb; vegetable.
• Any of various plants or herbs, used in combination to refer to specific plants such as St. John's wort, or on its own as a generic term.
• Liquid extract from the ground malt and grain soaked in hot water, the mash, as one of the steps in making beer.

Origin

• From Middle English wort, wurt, wyrte, from Old English wyrt ("herb, vegetable, plant, crop, root"), from Proto-Germanic *wrōts, from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds. root.
• From Middle English wort, worte, from Old English wyrt, wyrte, from Proto-Germanic *wurtijō ("spice"), from Proto-Indo-European *wréh₂ds ("sprout, root").
• Cognate with Dutch wort ("wort"), German Würze ("wort, seasoning, spice"), Danish urt ("beer wort"), Swedish vört ("beer wort").