wort

[wurt, wawrt]

noun

the unfermented or fermenting infusion of malt that after fermentation becomes beer or mash.

Origin of wort

before 1000; Middle English; Old English wyrt; cognate with German Würze spice; akin to wort²

wort

[wurt, wawrt]

noun

a plant, herb, or vegetable (now usually used only in combination): figwort.

Origin of wort

before 900; Middle English; Old English wyrt root, plant; cognate with Old High German wurz, Old Norse urt herb, Gothic waurts root; akin to root¹, Old Norse rōt, Latin rādīx, Greek rhíza

wort

[wurt]

noun

whort.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for wort

Contemporary Examples of wort

It is unpasteurized and unfiltered, and the wort reaches the boiling point but never boils.
Wine Snobs, There’s a Beer for You
Jordan Salcito
April 5, 2014

Historical Examples of wort

One only thing they feared, and that was the great St. John's wort.
Lippincott's Magazine, Vol. 26, August, 1880
Various
This frothing and foaming of the wort is a proof that the fermentation is active.
Fragments of science, V. 1-2
John Tyndall
The natural reaction of the wort should not be interfered with.
The Elements of Bacteriological Technique
John William Henry Eyre
I haf been robbed—robbed by Denson himself, wit'out a wort of doubt.
The Red Triangle
Arthur Morrison
Boil them with the wort, two hours, from the time it begins to boil.
A Poetical Cook-Book
Maria J. Moss

British Dictionary definitions for wort

wort

noun

(in combination) any of various unrelated plants, esp ones formerly used to cure diseasesliverwort; spleenwort

the sweet liquid obtained from the soaked mixture of warm water and ground malt, used to make a malt liquor

Word Origin for wort

Old English wyrt root, related to Old High German warz, Gothic waurts root

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

Word Origin and History for wort

"a plant," Old English wyrt "root, herb," from Proto-Germanic *wurtiz (cf. Old Saxon wurt, Old Norse, Danish urt, Old High German wurz "plant, herb," German Wurz, Gothic waurts, Old Norse rot "root"), from PIE root *wrad- "twig, root" (see radish). St. John's wort attested from 15c.