Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several artemisias, especially Artemesia vulgaris, native to Eurasia, having downy leaves and used as a flavoring and in moxibustion.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The plant Artemisia vulgaris; also, sometimes, A. Absinthium. In the United States the western mugwort is A. Ludoviciana, the leaves, as in A. vulgaris, white-tomentose beneath.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A somewhat aromatic composite weed (Artemisia vulgaris), at one time used medicinally; -- called also motherwort.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun botany Any of several aromatic plants of the genus Artemisia native to Europe and Asia.
  • noun Artemisia vulgaris, also common wormwood, used as a herb in cooking.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of several weedy composite plants of the genus Artemisia

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English mugwort, mugwyrt, from Old English mucgwyrt : mucg-, variant of mycg, midge + wyrt, plant; see wort.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Old English mucgwyrt, mucwyrt et al., from Proto-Germanic; probably corresponding to midge +‎ wort. Cognate with regional Low German muggart, mugwurz.

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Examples

  • The Katzer pages and this botanical log confirm the similar Russian names: mugwort is Чернобыльник ( "Chernobylnik") or botanically Полынь Обыкновенная (Common Polyn);, and according to the southernwood page, wormwood aka Artemisia absinthium is Полынь горькая ( "Bitter Polyn" again).

    Archive 2004-05-01 Ray Girvan 2004

  • The Katzer pages and this botanical log confirm the similar Russian names: mugwort is Чернобыльник ( "Chernobylnik") or botanically Полынь Обыкновенная (Common Polyn);, and according to the southernwood page, wormwood aka Artemisia absinthium is Полынь горькая ( "Bitter Polyn" again).

    A star called Mugwort Ray Girvan 2004

  • I learned that moxa is a kind of herb, also called mugwort, well known in the ancient world for its medicinal properties.

    After the Diagnosis MD Julian Seifter 2010

  • The Northern Europeans have long brewed gruit and sahti with spices such as mugwort and heather and yarrow and juniper and caraway and coriander.

    Contemplating the Consequences of a Double Imperial Witbier 2009

  • The Northern Europeans have long brewed gruit and sahti with spices such as mugwort and heather and yarrow and juniper and caraway and coriander.

    Archive 2009-06-01 2009

  • So it is that ai 艾, which relates you to modern writer Ai Qing 艾情, aka Artemisius Affectus I had mistakenly assumed that 'mugwort' referred to the 'mo' part.

    languagehat.com: DIVAN. 2005

  • Seriously, I'll have to check what a "mugwort" is.

    languagehat.com: DIVAN. 2005

  • I became Ai "mugwort" not as bad as it sounds, the Chinese honor mugwort more than we do.

    languagehat.com: DIVAN. 2005

  • Note—Peg told me that several days ago the queen miscarried; they eased her pain with mugwort and foxglove, and she is now recovering.

    Exit the Actress Priya Parmar 2011

  • Note—Peg told me that several days ago the queen miscarried; they eased her pain with mugwort and foxglove, and she is now recovering.

    Exit the Actress Priya Parmar 2011

Comments

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  • Mugwort is used to promote lucid dreaming.

    May 14, 2008

  • Mugwort works for that purpose.

    (but it tastes like sh*t...)

    May 14, 2008

  • I'm not going to ask why you know that, c_b.

    May 14, 2008

  • A 'weedy composite' plant with a name like mugwort ... I bet this word gets picked on and bullied at school :-(

    November 1, 2008

  • See comments on mucgwyrt.

    Also see Chernobyl.

    April 11, 2012