Advertisement

Origin and history of weed

weed(n.)

"herbaceous plant not cultivated or valued for use or beauty; troublesome or undesirable plant," Old English weod, uueod (Kentish wied) "grass, herb, weed," from Proto-Germanic *weud- (source also of Old Saxon wiod, East Frisian wiud), a word of unknown origin.

Also applied to trees that grow abundantly and sometimes 19c. to a jaded or unwanted animal. Applied to a small, or lanky and weak, person by 1869. Compare weedy.

The meaning "tobacco" is from c. 1600; that of "marijuana" is from 1920s. The chemical weed-killer is attested by 1885. Weed-hook is Old English weod-hok.

weed(v.)

"clear the ground of noxious or unwanted plants," Middle English weden, from late Old English weodian "to weed," from the source of weed (n.). Figurative use, "clear of anything hurtful or offensive," is by c. 1400. Related: Weeded; weeding.

Entries linking to weed

weeded(adj.)

1766, "free from weeds," past-participle adjective from weed (v.) "clear ground of weeds." By 1818 as "full of or covered with weeds," from weed (n.) perhaps on model of seeded, planted, etc. By 1895, of a woman, "dressed in widow's weeds," from weeds.

weeding(n.)

"act of clearing weeds," late 14c., verbal noun from weed (v.). Old English had weodung. Weeding-hook is from c. 1500.

Advertisement

More to explore

sneezeweed
also sneeze-weed, common North American plant, by 1807, so called because its powdered leaves were used medicinally to provoke sneezing; see sneeze (v.) + weed (n.). Sneezewort (1590s) is a different plant. A new and very important addition to the number of the Errhine medicines
pot
"deep, circular vessel," from late Old English pott and Old French pot "pot, container, mortar" (also in erotic senses), both from a general Low Germanic (Old Frisian pott, Middle Dutch pot) and Romanic word from Vulgar Latin *pottus, which is of uncertain origin, said by Barnhar
grass
Old English græs, gærs "herb, plant, grass," from Proto-Germanic *grasan (source also of Old Frisian gers "grass, turf, kind of grass," Old Norse, Old Saxon, Dutch, Old High German, German, Gothic gras, Swedish gräs "grass"), which, according to Watkins, is from PIE *ghros- "youn
laser
North Africa used medicinally (1570s), from Latin; still earlier it was an Old English and Middle English name for some weed...
darnel
deleterious weed growing in grain fields, c. 1300, from northern dialectal French darnelle; according to one theory the the...related to Middle Dutch verdaernt, verdarnt "stunned, dumbfounded, angry," Walloon darne, derne "stunned, dazed, drunk," the weed...
poke
"pokeweed; a strong-growing branching weed of eastern North America used in medicine and dyeing," colonial American English...
rabble
-, source also of  Sanskrit ravisam, ravat "to wound, hurt;" Lithuanian ráuti "to tear out, pull," ravėti "to weed...
band
"a flat strip," also "something that binds," Middle English bende, from Old English bend "bond, fetter, shackle, chain, that by which someone or something is bound; ribbon, ornament, chaplet, crown," with later senses and spelling from cognate Old Norse band and technical senses
take
Middle English taken, from late Old English tacan "to grip, seize by force, lay hold of," from a Scandinavian source (such as Old Norse taka "take, grasp, lay hold," past tense tok, past participle tekinn; also compare Swedish ta, past participle tagit). This is reconstructed to
cannabis
1798, "common hemp," from Cannabis, Modern Latin plant genus named (1728), from Greek kannabis "hemp," a Scythian or Thracian word. That word is also source of Armenian kanap', Albanian kanep, Russian konoplja, Persian kanab, Lithuanian kanapės "hemp," and English canvas and poss

Share weed

Advertisement
Trending
Dictionary entries near weed
Advertisement