ragweed

4 6.1

A tall wild plant that makes many people sneeze from its pollen

noun
/ˈræɡˌwid/

: ambrosía

During the summer months, ragweed can grow rapidly and cause hay fever symptoms for many.

The spring pollen onslaught dwindles by Midsummer, just in time for ragweed season.

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Examples

Add ragweed and chenopods blooming right now, and it's a mess for some of us.

Blog text (21)
The AAAAI noted that ragweed allergies can sometimes cause hives on the skin.

Blog text (9)
But in most areas of the country, ragweed is the most common fall allergen.

Blog text (9)
No, I know, Henry warned me that it's bad this time of year and there's a lot of ragweed.

Mother's Day (2016)
Skin testing turned up a ragweed allergy that was making my August pretty miserable, too.

Blog text (5)
Donald was already out of the car, lifting his knees high to clear goldenrod and ragweed.

Fiction book (2001)
Goldenrod and ragweed pressed around the foundation, asters waved in the wind.

Fiction book (1998)
During summer, lots like this were eyesores, clotted with trash, ragweed thrusting from bricks and broken bottles.

Fiction book (2001)
The grass, ropy as kelp, is rank with beaded, unripe ragweed and hoary dandelions.

Academic text (1999)
Many people suffer from allergies in the fall because of ragweed pollen.

Synonyms

Ambrosia

vsragweed

Specialized

9.7

A group of plants called ragweeds that produce pollen causing seasonal allergies

refers to one common species in that genus that often causes hay fever

Compounds

common ragweed

5.7

A North American weed with many small green flowers that often cause hay fever

false ragweed

9.4

A tall plant that makes a lot of pollen and can cause hay fever or itchy rashes when touched

great ragweed

8.2

A tall annual plant with rough leaves divided into three or five parts common in North America

ragweed pollen

5.1

Tiny grains from the ragweed plant that cause allergies in many people

perennial ragweed

Specialized

8.8

A rough plant with spreading roots that lives year after year in dry open land

western ragweed

Specialized

9.9

A tough wild plant with creeping roots that grows in dry, rocky places in the US southwest and Mexico

Surface Forms

ragweed singular

ragweeds plural

Morphology

ragweed = rag + weed (semi-transparent) = rag + weed

The components 'rag' and 'weed' are recognizable, but the specific botanical sense and allergy association of the compound cannot be fully derived by a learner from the parts alone.

Etymology

Ragweed is made from rag and weed, because its rough, ragged-looking leaves and many small flowers looked like 'rags' on a plant and it grew as an unwanted 'weed'. So, the name fits: ragweed is a wild plant known for causing 'allergies' in late summer.