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burdock

burdock

4 8.6
A large plant with wide leaves and small spiky balls that stick to clothing or fur
  • noun
  • /ˈbɜrdɒk/
translation icon : bardana
  • Where formerly the space between the planted crop edge and the stone wall was taken by burdock and nettle, the deep shadow cast by the overarching trees favors mosses and ferns.
  • burdock root
  • burdock leaf
  • burdock plant

Examples

  • Before long, he was coming around the far side of the barn where the fence was down in a patch of burdock.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • For tonight's dinner, let's have burdock salad and seaweed scrambled eggs, okay?

  • The burdock plants are five inches tall.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • A burdock poultice for your head.

  • I cut several burdock heads not far from the roadbed.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • I suddenly recalled that I had taken some scissors with me in order to cut burdock heads.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • I'm going to braise a pot roast using an edible mirepoix, burdock root, and kohlrabi for Christmas this year.

    Blog text (22)
  • From the window next to this bed, I can see how they are untended now, unpruned, overtaken with burdocks, thistles, and matted grass.

    Fiction book (1998)
  • He's going for a hike in the Alps and he noticed there's these clumps of like burdock seeds or burs that kept sticking to the dog's fur.

  • The large leaves of the burdock were covered in dew in the early morning light.

Synonyms

greater burdock
vsburdock
  • Specialized
8.5

A large plant with heart-shaped leaves and a root you can eat for food and medicine

is the general large biennial plant with broad leaves and burrs
great burdock
vsburdock
  • UK
8.3

A large plant with broad heart-shaped leaves that people use as food and medicine

is the general biennial plant known for burrs that stick to fabric or fur
Arctium lappa
vsburdock
  • Specialized
9.9

A plant with large heart-shaped leaves and edible roots used in cooking and traditional medicine

is the general biennial plant with burrs that cling to clothing
common burdock
vsburdock
7.4

A large wild plant with broad leaves and seed burrs that stick to animal fur

is the general large biennial plant known for burrs that attach to fabric
Arctium minus
vsburdock
  • Specialized
9.9

A wild plant with large leaves and round burrs that stick to clothes

is the general biennial plant native to Eurasia with burr-bearing seed heads
lesser burdock
vsburdock
9.7

A common wild plant with large rough leaves and purple flower heads

is the common large biennial plant noted for burrs that stick to animals
clotbur
vsburdock
  • UK
9.9

A plant that grows for two years and has seed heads that stick to clothes or animal fur

is the typical large biennial plant with broad leaves and sticky burrs
Arctium
vsburdock
  • Specialized
9.9

A plant in the daisy family with large leaves and sticky round seed heads

is a single biennial species within that broader plant group

Compounds

A large wild plant with broad leaves and seed burrs that stick to animal fur

A common wild plant with large rough leaves and purple flower heads

8.3

A large plant with broad heart-shaped leaves that people use as food and medicine

greater burdock
  • Specialized
8.5

A large plant with heart-shaped leaves and a root you can eat for food and medicine

Surface Forms

burdock singular
burdocks plural

Morphology

burdock = bur + dock (semi-transparent) = bur + dock

The word is a transparent compound of 'bur' (burr) + 'dock' (a type of plant), but the botanical sense and the less-familiar plant sense of 'dock' make the meaning not fully predictable for an average learner.

Etymology

Burdock comes from two parts: bur (a sticky 'burr') and dock (a word for a plant). So, burdock is literally the plant with prickly burrs that cling to clothes or animal fur.