Etymologically
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herbal

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Pronunciation

  • UK: /ˈhɜːbəl/[1]
  • US: /ˈɝbəl/[1]

Etymology

The noun, a book about plants, is probably borrowed from Medieval Latin herbālis, understood with liber (“book”),[2][3][4] or its neuter herbāle used as a noun,[5][3] on the model of nominale (“name-book”) and manuale (“handbook”) as names of books.[3] Merriam-Webster derives both noun and adjective from English herb + -al.[6] The adjective has the same Medieval Latin source,[3][7][2] perhaps through the obsolete French adjective herbal.[2][3] The Latin adjective is from herba (“grass, herb”),[7][5][4] the source of herb.[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A book describing plants and their properties: 1516 in Merriam-Webster,[6] the 1510s in Etymonline,[7] and 1526, in a book title, in the OED.[3]

Semantic evolution

The noun came first: herbals, books naming and describing plants with their uses in medicine, were common in the 16th and 17th centuries, and the OED now calls the word obsolete except in historical use.[3][2] Johnson (1755) defined it as "a book containing the names and description of plants", quoting Bacon.[8] From 1580 a herbal could also be a collection of dried plants, a herbarium.[3][6] The adjective, "of or made from herbs", followed in 1612 and is now the common word,[3][7][6] as in herbal medicine and herbal tea.[9] In Australian informal use it describes a person drawn to esoteric philosophies and traditional remedies,[9] and in American drug slang of the 1990s a herbal was a marijuana cigarette with no other drug in it.[10]

Timeline

  • 1516 – noun, a book describing plants and their properties.[6] The OED's first record is a book title of 1526.[3]
  • 1580 – a collection of herbs or dried plants (obsolete by 1847).[3]
  • 1612 – adjective, of, consisting of or made from herbs.[3][6][7]
  • before 1682 – of the nature of a herb, in Sir Thomas Browne (obsolete).[3]
  • 1995 – US drug slang, a marijuana cigarette not laced with another drug.[10]

Meanings

Adjective

  1. Of, relating to, or made from herbs, especially those used in cooking or medicine: She drinks herbal infusions before bed.[9][6][3]
  2. (Australia, informal) Interested in esoteric philosophies, traditional remedies and the like.[9]

Noun

  1. A book that names and describes plants, usually with their medicinal properties.[6][9][3][8]
  2. (archaic) A herbarium, a collection of dried plant specimens.[6][3]
  3. (US, drugs) A marijuana cigarette with no other drug added.[10]

Word family

  • herbalism
  • herbalist
  • herbal medicine
  • herbal tea
  • herb
  • herbarium
  • herbaceous
  • herbage

Usage notes

Merriam-Webster gives American pronunciations both with and without the initial /h/.[6]

References

  1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  4. ^ a b Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
  5. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
  7. ^ a b c d e f Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  8. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  9. ^ a b c d e Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
  10. ^ a b c Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com