weed English · revision 6769

+ English has two words spelled weed: the wild plant, and an old word for a garment, surviving in ''widow's weeds''.^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /wiːd/^(Wiktionary)

+

+ {{homograph|1|unwanted plant}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=c. 888|origins=gem-pro *weud-}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The plant is Middle English wede, [[inh|ang|wēod|t=grass, herb, weed]],^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) from [[gem-pro|*weud-]], a word of unknown origin,^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1988) cognate with [[osx|wiod]], [[dum|wiet]] and [[goh|wiota|t=fern]].^(Barnhart 1988)^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==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.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Old English also used it for any herb or small plant,^(OED 1989) and weed has been used of water plants since 1538.^(OED 1989) Tobacco is ''the weed'' from 1606,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline) and marijuana from the 1920s.^(Etymonline) A thin or weak person is a weed by 1869,^(Etymonline) and an inferior horse is also a weed.^(Collins 2023) The proverb ''ill weeds grow apace'' is from the 15th century.^(OED 1989) The verb, to clear of weeds, is from late Old English wēodian,^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)^(Hoad 1986) and figuratively to remove anything harmful is by about 1400.^(Etymonline) ''Weed-killer'' is by 1885.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * c. 888 – an unwanted plant.^(OED 1989)^(Barnhart 1988)

+ * c. 1400 – to weed out, figuratively.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1606 – tobacco.^(Barnhart 1988)^(Etymonline)

+ * 1869 – a weak person.^(Etymonline)

+ * 1920s – marijuana.^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # A wild plant growing where it is not wanted, especially among cultivated plants.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # A water plant, especially [[seaweed]].^(AHD)

+ # ''(slang)'' [[marijuana|alt=Marijuana]], or, as ''the weed'', [[tobacco]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(informal)'' A thin, weak person.^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To remove weeds from a garden or other ground.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # To remove unwanted things or people, usually with ''out''.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[weedy]]

+ * [[weeder]]

+ * [[seaweed]]

+ * [[weedkiller]]

+ * [[tumbleweed]]

+

+ {{homograph|2|garment}}

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+ {{infobox|confidence=established|formation=inherited|attested=Old English|origins=gem-pro *wēdiz}}

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ The garment is Middle English wede, [[inh|ang|wǣd]] and [[m|ang|gewǣde|t=clothing]],^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024) from [[gem-pro|*wēdiz]], cognate with [[osx|wād]], [[goh|wāt]] and [[non|váð|t=cloth]].^(Hoad 1986)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A garment or clothing: Old English.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ Since the 16th century it has survived chiefly in the plural, deep mourning clothes, especially a widow's.^(Hoad 1986)^(AHD) In Scots and northern dialect a weed was still any garment.^(Wright 1898)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * Old English – a garment.^(Hoad 1986)

+ * 16th century – mourning clothes.^(Hoad 1986)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # ''weeds'': black clothes worn in [[mourning]], especially by a [[widow]].^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+ # ''(archaic)'' A garment.^(AHD)^(Collins 2023)

+

+ ==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'.^(SOED 2002)^(MWU 2024)

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}