wort

[ wurt, wawrt ]

/ wɜrt, wɔrt /

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noun

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

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Origin of wort

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

Words nearby wort

worshipful, worship the ground someone walks on, worst, worst-case, worsted, wort, worth, worthful, worthiness, Worthing, Worthington

Other definitions for wort (2 of 2)

wort²

[ wurt, wawrt ]

/ wɜrt, wɔrt /

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use wort in a sentence

It is made, as the label narrates “with traditional mash hopping and without wort boiling.”
Wine Snobs, There’s a Beer for You|Jordan Salcito|April 5, 2014|DAILY BEAST
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|DAILY BEAST
Where Carroll is “steady,” White tends to be “the worry-wort.”
Edmund White: Sex, Success, and Survival|Tim Teeman|February 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Boil them with the wort, two hours, from the time it begins to boil.
A Poetical Cook-Book|Maria J. Moss

What avails the dram of brandy while it swims chemically united with its barrel of wort?
Dictionary of Quotations from Ancient and Modern, English and Foreign Sources|James Wood
They sat down on the sour stony land among the rag-wort and teazles and feverfew.
Plashers Mead|Compton Mackenzie
The plump-looking navel-wort, possibly introduced by him, may be seen peeping from crevices in the walls.
Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents and Strange Events|S. Baring-Gould
It is known as the Glass-wort, being full of a substance useful in making glass.
On the Seashore|R. Cadwallader Smith

British Dictionary definitions for wort

wort

/ (wɜːt) /

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