comfrey

American

[kuhm-free] / ˈkʌm fri /

noun

any coarse Eurasian plant belonging to the genus Symphytum, of the borage family, as the widely cultivated S. officinale, having hairy, lance-shaped leaves and drooping clusters of small, white, rose-colored, or purplish flowers.

comfrey British

/ ˈkʌmfrɪ /

noun

any hairy Eurasian boraginaceous plant of the genus Symphytum, having blue, purplish-pink, or white flowers

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

comfreys

plural

Etymology

Origin of comfrey

1275–1325; Middle English cumfirie, conferye < Anglo-French cumfirie, Old French confire < Medieval Latin *confervia for Latin conferva conferva

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

comfrey

For a very quick and not so offensive fertilizer, you can make up small batches of fresh comfrey fertilizer in your kitchen.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 4, 2023

Another interesting trait of comfrey is that in addition to producing vitamin C and all of the other plant based vitamins, it is the only land-based plant that produces vitamin B-12.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 4, 2023

I have begun using Steuart’s Pain Formula with arnica and comfrey.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 23, 2022

In the lexicon of permaculture, comfrey is known as a dynamic accumulator.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 24, 2022

Or, “Beetle, I am taking the comfrey tonic to Joan At-the-Bridge. See you finish boiling the goose grease for ointments.”

From "The Midwife's Apprentice" by Karen Cushman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023