weed

English has two words spelled weed: the wild plant, and an old word for a garment, surviving in widow's weeds.^[1][2]

Pronunciation

• IPA: /wiːd/^[3]

weed¹ unwanted plant

Etymology

The plant is Middle English wede, inherited from Old English wēod (“grass, herb, weed”),^[4][5][1][2] from Proto-Germanic *weud-, a word of unknown origin,^[5][4] cognate with Old Saxon wiod, Middle Dutch wiet and Old High German wiota (“fern”).^[4][1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A herbaceous plant not valued for use or beauty: about 888 in the OED, before 899, in Alfred's translation of Boethius, in Barnhart.^[6][4]

Semantic evolution

Old English also used it for any herb or small plant,^[6] and weed has been used of water plants since 1538.^[6] Tobacco is the weed from 1606,^[4][5] and marijuana from the 1920s.^[5] A thin or weak person is a weed by 1869,^[5] and an inferior horse is also a weed.^[7] The proverb ill weeds grow apace is from the 15th century.^[6] The verb, to clear of weeds, is from late Old English wēodian,^[4][5][1] and figuratively to remove anything harmful is by about 1400.^[5] Weed-killer is by 1885.^[5]

Timeline

• c. 888 – an unwanted plant.^[6][4]
• c. 1400 – to weed out, figuratively.^[5]
• 1606 – tobacco.^[4][5]
• 1869 – a weak person.^[5]
• 1920s – marijuana.^[5]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. A wild plant growing where it is not wanted, especially among cultivated plants.
2. A water plant, especially seaweed.
3. (slang) Marijuana, or, as the weed, tobacco.
4. (informal) A thin, weak person.

Verb

1. To remove weeds from a garden or other ground.
2. To remove unwanted things or people, usually with out.

Word family

• weedy
• weeder
• seaweed
• weedkiller
• tumbleweed

weed² garment

Etymology

The garment is Middle English wede, inherited from Old English wǣd and gewǣde (“clothing”),^[1][2] from Proto-Germanic *wēdiz, cognate with Old Saxon wād, Old High German wāt and Old Norse váð (“cloth”).^[1][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A garment or clothing: Old English.^[1]

Semantic evolution

Since the 16th century it has survived chiefly in the plural, deep mourning clothes, especially a widow's.^[1][8] In Scots and northern dialect a weed was still any garment.^[9]

Timeline

• Old English – a garment.^[1]
• 16th century – mourning clothes.^[1]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. weeds: black clothes worn in mourning, especially by a widow.
2. (archaic) A garment.

Related words

• widow's weeds

Usage notes

A third word weed, a sudden fever, especially in cattle or after childbirth, is Scots and Irish, shortened from wedonfa'.^[10][2]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
2. ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
4. ^ a b c d e f g h Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
6. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
7. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
8. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
9. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
10. ^ Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press