motherwort

1 9.9

A bitter herb with jagged leaves and pale pink or white flowers sometimes used in herbal medicine

noun
/ˈmʌðərˌwɔrt/

Specialized

: madre selva

Examples

- Maybe a pinch of motherwort.

The House with a Clock in Its Walls (2018)
Motherwort dropped into milk, amber bottles.

Fiction book (1993)
In traditional herbal medicine, motherwort is often used for its calming properties.
Many herbalists recommend motherwort to help manage anxiety and promote relaxation.
The gardener found motherwort thriving in the hedgerows near her home, often used in herbal remedies.

Synonyms

Leonurus cardiaca

vsmotherwort

Specialized

9.9

A bitter herb with toothed leaves and pale pink or white flowers that grows along hedges and forest edges

is the common everyday name rather than the Latin label

Surface Forms

motherwort singular

motherworts plural

Morphology

motherwort = mother + wort (opaque) = mother + wort

Although formally a compound 'mother' + 'wort', the element 'wort' is archaic and the reason for 'mother' (associative/folk usage) is not obvious to learners.

Etymology

Motherwort comes from mother + wort, where wort is an old English word for 'plant' or 'herb'. People long ago used this bitter plant to help women after childbirth and for women's health, so the name helps you remember it as the herb for mothers.