wort

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.

• (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

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: […] 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.

3. (specifically, historical) Chiefly in the plural: a plant of the genus Brassica used as a vegetable; a brassica; especially, a cabbage (Brassica oleracea).
   • 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XIX.] The Manner of Trimming and Ordering Gardens: The Sorting of All Those Things that Grow out of the Earth, into Their Due Places, besides Corne and Plants Bearing Fruit.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 11:

     VVhy (ſay they in ſcorne and contempt of povertie) here is the ſtem of a vvoort ſo vvell grovvne, here is a cabbage ſo thriven and fed, that a poore mans boord vvill not hold it.

   • 1610–1614, John Fletcher, “The Tragedie of Valentinian”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act III, scene ii, page 14, column 2:

     I am poore / And may expect a vvorſe; yet digging, pruning, / Mending of broken vvayes, carrying of vvater, / Planting of VVorts, and Onyons, any thing / That's honeſt, and a mans, Ile rather chooſe, […]

   • 1648, Robert Herrick, “His Content in the Country”, in Hesperides: Or, The Works both Humane & Divine […], London: […] John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, and are to be sold by Tho[mas] Hunt, […], →OCLC, page 233:

     Though ne'er ſo mean the Viands be, / They vvell content my Prevv and me. / Or Pea, or Bean, or VVort, or Beet, / VVhat ever comes, content makes ſvveet: […]

5. (by extension, botany) A non-vascular plant growing on land from the division Anthocerotophyta (the hornworts) or Marchantiophyta (liverworts); an anthocerotophyte or marchantiophyte.

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]

• (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

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.

• mashwort

• list of wort plants on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• wort (brewing) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “wort”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.

• ROTW, Trow, rowt, trow

• wòrt, wört, wourd, wuart

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

wort n

1. (Formazza) word

• Patuzzi, Umberto, ed., (2013) Luserna / Lusérn: Le nostre parole / Ünsarne börtar / Unsere Wörter [Our Words], Luserna, Italy: Comitato unitario delle isole linguistiche storiche germaniche in Italia / Einheitskomitee der historischen deutschen Sprachinseln in Italien

Dutch Wikipedia has an article on:

wort

Wikipedia ^nl

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

• Audio:

  (file)

wort n (uncountable)

1. wort (unfermented beer)

From Old Dutch wort.

wort n or f

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

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

• wōort

• Dutch: woord
• Limburgish: waord, waordj

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

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”).

• wert, woort, worte, wrt, wurte, wuyrte, wyrte

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

wort (plural wortes or worten)

2. A plant (not including trees, shrubs, etc.):
   • c. 1395, John Wycliffe, John Purvey [et al.], transl., Bible (Wycliffite Bible (later version), MS Lich 10.)‎^[1], 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.

This term is often used in compounds.

• English: wort
• Fingallian: wolt

• “wǒrt, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-22.

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

• woort, worte, wrt, wurt, wurte

• IPA^(key): /ˈwurt/

wort (uncountable)

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

• English: wort
• Scots: wort, wirt

• “wǒrt, n.(2).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2019-02-22.

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

• IPA^(key): (before 13^th CE) /ˈwort/

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)

• Alemannic German:

  Alsatian: Wort

  Italian Walser: wort, wourd, wuart, wòrt, wört

  Swabian: Wort

• Bavarian: Wort, Wurt

  Cimbrian: bóart, bort (Luserna, Tredici Comuni)

  Mòcheno: bourt

  Udinese: boart, bort, bört

• Central Franconian: Woot, Wort (Moselle Franconian; some dialects of Ripuarian)

  Hunsrik: Wort

• German: Wort
• Luxembourgish: Wuert
• Vilamovian: wiüt
• Yiddish: וואָרט (vort)

Inherited from Middle English wort.

wort

1. wort (the infusion of malt which is fermented to become beer)

• wirt

Inherited from Middle English wrot.

wort

1. snout of a pig

Inherited from Middle English wroten.

wort

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

This entry needs an inflection-table template.

• “wort”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC.

From Proto-West Germanic *word.

wort n

1. word

head=wort

• Middle Dutch: wort
  • Dutch: woord
  • Limburgish: waord, waordj

• “wort”, in Oudnederlands Woordenboek, 2012

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.

• IPA^(key): /ˈwort/

wort n

1. word
2. (grammar) verb

• Middle High German: wort
  • Alemannic German:

    Alsatian: Wort

    Italian Walser: wort, wourd, wuart, wòrt, wört

    Swabian: Wort

  • Bavarian: Wort, Wurt

    Cimbrian: bóart, bort (Luserna, Tredici Comuni)

    Mòcheno: bourt

    Udinese: boart, bort, bört

  • Central Franconian: Woot, Wort (Moselle Franconian; some dialects of Ripuarian)

    Hunsrik: Wort

  • German: Wort
  • Luxembourgish: Wuert
  • Vilamovian: wiüt
  • Yiddish: וואָרט (vort)